A Breath of Fresh Air

A Story by Thalassa

It was an experience worth remembering.

In the year 2017, I was bound for Batangas. I remember the glimpses of the sunlight pass through the car window, the trees in their posterity shadowed by the swift movement of the car, the blue hue outstretched towards a multitude of a distance, and the soft tunes played accompanied by my family’s hums and ad-libs. Coming from a family of musicians, it was always tradition to bring an instrument whenever we went somewhere. In this case, a ukelele was brought along.

As soon as my feet strode on the moist soil, the pungent smell of the moss engulfed me into a new world. As I felt the sun’s piercing tap on my shoulder, I knew I was where I needed to be. The variations of flowers consisting of orchids, daisies, roses, and sunflowers curled themselves around the posts of the wooden arch just situated before the entrance door. Smiles of the staff greeted us with utmost welcome and warmth as they also offered to carry our baggage. Once they directed us to the nipa hut in which we were assigned to, we started walking on the trail filled with stones of all kinds.

It was a new world. The palm trees surrounded in a circuit while the nipa huts were scattered but still within a respectable distance from each other. I put my bag down on the bamboo-made table in the nipa hut, took my sandals off, and walked barefoot on the newly-trimmed grass. Not once did I imagine myself feeling at home in a place that is foreign and strange. With the number of people and the quantifiable amount of songs playing softly in the background, I drowned out the sounds for a moment and focused on my breathing.

I closed my eyes and stood still, luxuriating in the crisp breeze brought upon me on a hot summer’s day. I opened my eyes again and started treading with my arms doing circular motions with sophistication. I didn’t realize I was dancing along to the sounds of nature ringing in my ears and kissing them softly. The sound of leaves rubbing against each other due to the wind’s presence, and the sound of my steps as they hit the textured grass; it was all too divine for me to ever deserve being present in. I face the sky and drink its much blueness, feeling the merriment seep in every nerve I had in my body.

As soon as I finished dancing, I visited the pool in which it was said to have healing powers because the water was directly from the underground layer of Taal Volcano. My body felt the relief and tranquility it withheld, and the people with me in the pool could attest to that as well. There was something about the gushing water that brought my mind to relaxation; assuring me that I could lay still and allow the course of water to drift me off into a dimension in which I need to place myself in, in order to take my mind off of things.

As I floated about in the water, I couldn’t help but think of how I always had to chase something, whether that be validation or something concrete. In my every routine, I never stopped in between schedules just to rest and think because I was scared that I would be left alone. I knew that somewhere in me was a spirit yearning for an opportunity to create space and to immerse in its paused continuum. But giving it a second thought was always like a dagger pierced through my heart because I was and is always a person of systematic patterns and instructions.

I rose from the pool, grabbed my towel hanging on the rail, and wiped myself with it. After that, I asked permission from my mother to walk around the area but not too far, and with her granted permission, I was off to a short but powerful journey that would allegedly open my eyes to the real me.

The sun was about to set at that time and I could feel myself getting colder by the minute, but that didn’t bother me because I was too focused on a small frog that suddenly appeared in front of me. At first, I was terrified because if it leaped towards me, then I wouldn’t be able to breathe after that. I was waiting for the frog’s minimal movement of engaging towards me but it never did. It just sat on the grass and focused on what was beyond the resort itself. I observed it for a few more seconds but I couldn’t conjure any thoughts from it. Then I thought of sitting down on the grass. As I did, I suddenly found myself lying down on my chest touching ground and there I saw the world in the viewpoint of a frog. The sky seems much farther and the trees figure as pillars of its home. All this time, I have always been focused on what I see that I don’t think of what other people or in this matter, what other animals could ever perceive. All this time, I was always chasing time when I’ve just been straying further from myself. The frog knew how to take its time in obtaining the world’s beauty, but I constantly forget to do that for if it weren’t for this vacation, I wouldn’t have stepped out and admired its glory.

The frog leaped away and I was alone under the sun-drained sky. I smiled to myself because I never knew I would learn something from the frog that was timely and requisite for me to move on in life and have a refreshing pause. With that, I gazed at the sky, with the thousands of stars reflecting in my eyes.