Post by djurdjevic on Jul 12, 2019 9:07:17 GMT -5
Katya had... an unusual habit.
Another day had come and gone in LA, California. Tomorrow morning, Katya flies to Columbia to travel for Blitz 18. For now however, she stands before the bathroom mirror.
Whenever it was night, she would stand before her reflection, whether it be through a mirror, a window or a lake...
She watches her reflection.
... and look herself in the eye for a long while.
She looks herself in the eye, filtering all else out of her mind. Half a minute passes before she declares, “I lived my day Well.”
And at the end, she would always announce whether she has lived her day Well.
Katya smirks and heads for the showers.
On the afternoon of her 11th birthday, Katya stretches on her bed, sprawling like a cat that has just found the perfect ray of sunlight for basking in. She draws a sketch in her Moleskin, trying to copy an image of a cartoon lion laid out beside her.
Whilst Katya is absorbed, in the passageway her father happens by. He smiles at the sight of her drawing. “How are you finding it, Katya.”
“I’m awful. I can’t draw anything at all. It’s not even funny. When I showed Ilya my self-portait he laughed”
Her father hoots with laughter. “Of course you’re awful at it. You’ve never done it before. Do you like drawing at least?”
Katya pauses for a moment. “... yeah. It’s relaxing.”
“Then keep at it.”
Despite complaining, Katya continues sketching. Her father gives Katya a long, measured look. “Follow me, Katya.”
Katya raises an eyebrow as she watches him stride off with purpose, but obeys and follows him through their home. “I want to show you something that has been passed down in our family for nine generations." he explained. Slowly, he looks back over his shoulder and beams at her with pride. "You are the tenth."
It's not long before Katya’s father leads her before the big full length mirror of the house. He stood her in front of the mirror, stood behind her and said…"Look.¨
Katya gazes at the mirror. Unsure of what she is meant to see, her eyes then scan elsewhere. Her body soon starts to fidget.
He says again, ¨Look!¨
She looks back at the mirror. This time, she surveys herself in the reflection. After some moments, her father said, ¨Have you lived your day Well?¨
He had never asked her that before. She wasn’t quite sure. She bobs her head from side to side in thought. ¨I think so.¨
Her father continues. ¨As a woman, you have a choice to live your day well. You need to look into the mirror each night and ask yourself, ́did I live this day well?´
If you answer no, I did not live this day well, then the reason that you did not live your day well is staring at you directly in the mirror and being reflected back to you.¨
He kneels down to look Katya in the eye, resting a hand on her shoulder, “I want you to start doing this from tonight. Every night. Can you do that for me, Katya?”
“Yes, Daddy.” she said, smiling.
When nightfall came, and Katya was standing before the mirror in her bathroom that night, her father came in and faced the mirror with her. The normally stoic man put his arm around her as he said, ¨I see the woman that you will become, what did you see?¨ He walked away. Katya watched her reflection once again. Soon after, she went to sleep.
The next morning, when Katya was doing her chores, her mother's voice rang out.
"Katya, sweetie! Grandpa’s on the phone! He wants to speak with you."
That lit up her curiosity. That’s unusual, Katya realised. We just spoke the day before on my birthday.
Nonetheless, she would never make her grandfather wait and wastes no time answering the call. "Hi, Grandpa!"
"Hello, Katya. Did you live your day Well?"
She gave him a better answer. “Yes, grandpa. I woke up early to read a chapter from each of the books you and Daddy bought me. I asked Ivan to help me with drawing too since he’s so good at it and he’s been helping me.”
The warmth in his voice was tangible. “Good. I am going to call you each evening and ask you. Have a good day, my dear.¨ Katya later found that this was also part of the tradition with the grandfather. One evening, maybe three or four weeks later, when she was speaking with her grandfather, Katya mentioned that she had not lived her day well.
“Go look in the mirror, Katya.” Her grandfather said. “We will talk again tomorrow.”
When Katya arrived home from the library the next day, there was her grandfather (and grandmother) who had driven many hours to spend a few days with them. Later that evening her grandfather stood with her before the mirror and asked ¨Did you live your day Well?"
¨Yes grandpa, I lived my day Well.¨
“What was the difference between yesterday and today?”
“I made up with Ilya after that fight we had. I started a Lemonade stand using the ideas I got from the sales book Daddy got me for my birthday. I finished all the homework he set me a few days before they were due and I practiced my cycling today .”
Grandpa watched the girl for a few moments. He put his arm around Katya (he was even more stoic than her father) as they stood together before their reflections. “The reason that you lived your day Well today, and did not live your day Well yesterday is right there!” He points at Katya in the mirror. He steps several paces back, leaving Katya to reflect at her image in the mirror for a few moments. He then said, “I expect you, just as I expect your father to do this each day."
Katya turned around and hugged the mammoth of a man. “Yes grandpa, I promise.”
For all of the years since those days, when they parted company, they always said, ¨Be Well!¨
Katya has continued to look into a mirror or window throughout her days. Along the way the meaning of living a day Well has deepened compared to that birthday eight and a half years ago.
Now, her birthdays have a more significant meaning as on those days when she looks into the mirror she sees her father and grandfather with their arm around her as she ponders the woman that she has become.