Re(Collection)

When I think about the sameness of the days, how it's the same room, the same place, the same time I wake up everyday, I can't help but wonder how 'normal' once was. It's hard to remember what things were like.

Was it the freedom of visiting loved ones whenever I felt like it? Or strolling in the mall, or eating out, or travelling?

Then again, once I sit down in my office and look out the window, I realise there's nothing the same about yesterday and today. The sun shines a little differently this season. The dragonflies are out. Perhaps it will rain. Or perhaps not. It's a bit humid.

Tomorrow the air might feel drier. I might go out for a walk where there aren't many people. A might see the birds that sneak around the vines and the wild fig trees, sipping nectar from little flowes. They aren't always there. I have to cross my fingers to see them.

Before I knew it, my notebook has filled up with new and exciting ideas. There is beauty in routine, in small spaces, in hidden corners, and unexpected visitors. There is beauty in simply being alive and breathing things in.

View From the Window

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" (月が綺麗ですね)

There is a story that tells of how novelist Soseki Natsume once taught his students that one mustn't translate expressions of love word-for-word. While one culture might say “I love you” a certain way, another culture might find direct expressions of love intimidating. Love, as one of the most beautiful things about being human, may be expressed as a form of reverence and respect. Sighing about the breathtaking beauty of the moon has, for some time now, been understood to mean "I love you” in countries like Japan and South Korea. Beyond romance, love is treated with a reverential distance that elevates the experience above mere emotions.

This person, this place, this view, has touched my soul in ways nearly impossible to express… thus, here it is, my approximation of love.

In J's case, love is family. Love is togetherness. And most of all, love is home.

She shared photos of Roxas City; its unmatched sunsets, sky red and blazing over the bay, and at the edge of the horizon, the moon rising in silver splendor.

J's specific words: "Whimsical and sentimental this time ❤️ water, sunset, home." Her earrings feature moonstones, indicolite tourmalines, padparadscha sapphires, rubies, blue sapphires, and tanzanite, to recreate her beloved view.