inthelouvre.org » “Soar”

“Soar”

May

'08

If it is at all possible still, I may have fallen in love. Eve sighed slowly but loudly. Her apartment was empty, leaving her and her thoughts alone, and she relished the moment. It was a quiet Friday afternoon, as most Friday afternoons are for her. Her bare feet stuck out from beneath her on the living room couch; all the windows were open allowing a light breeze to tickle her toes. Outside she could hear the laughing of her neighbors, dogs barking playfully, and transportation of vehicles. People were just arriving home from work, as she had only an hour ago; everyone was getting ready for the weekend, whether it was to be a busy one or a lazy, slow-paced, relaxing one.

She found the small things endearing: The way the sunlight cascaded through the window, brightening certain patterns on her Oriental carpet and leaving other places in shadows. A dragon popped out one moment but Eve knew that less than an hour from that moment a flower would be more prominent. The sun shines where it feels its touch will be most appreciated. The pen she was holding was comfortable in her palm, and her diary lay haphazardly across her folded knees. She closed her eyes and breathed in once again the stale, lonely apartment air and smiled.

A year ago at this exact moment, she was lost. Her heart rested in a nook inside her chest always in a place which she was painfully aware of. It lowered sometimes bringing her tonsils with it, sometimes enough to make her cry. She may have been sitting on the same sofa, or her mother’s, a friend’s - it didn’t matter. The day-to-day was the same; she was alone in the world with nothing to look forward to.

As a fresh graduate, Eve had many prospects for herself. Almost five years ago she thought she’d be working in research in no time, waking up daily with new projects and ideas to look forward to studying. Yes, she worked part-time at a library with several opportunities to help children with their homework, but it wasn’t such a small community as she’d hoped. She’d wanted to form relationships, to be “Ms Eve,” the librarian whom certain kids went to for help, rather than “Mrs. Librarian,” the nondescript person behind the desk so married to her job that she was almost mistaken for it. If she couldn’t spend her life researching, she’d rather spend her life helping people learn to research, especially young people. It was an important skill for everyday life, and she felt it was up to her to help the general population realize that.

She wasn’t up to being an activist, though. Quiet Mrs. Librarian is what she became, hidden all those years behind self-consciousness and regret, trying to convince herself that the only way to be truly happy was to climb inside herself and smile.

Well, this was love. Love changes all things when it appears. Suddenly Eve found herself standing in the middle of her living room with butterflies in her stomach just at the thought of her beloved. It was a sensation she’d never thought she would feel again; her failed relationships of the past may have scarred her too much. A year ago she thought no one would ever find her, yet here she was rejoicing at the prospect of a new life. Instead of finding itself lodged somewhere in the pit of her stomach, her heart instead soared to new heights.

Fridays for Eve were half-days. She worked from 9 to 3, which gave herself an extra hour or two to run errands before the weekend rush came home. It was a pleasant time usually spent lazying around the house, grocery shopping, or reading. On this particular day, however, she took to browsing websites and found herself upon this particular “matchmaking” website. Portland, Oregon. So far away, and yet it seemed so perfect for her. An inner-city library located just a few blocks from a family neighborhood. On first sight of the small brick building built up to look just like those old schoolhouses Eve always remembered seeing pictures of in her childhood days, she fell in love.

Eve picked up her pen. Its name is Beaumont Library, and it’s on the other side of the country. I really hope to get to know it better soon…

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