Once Again

Once again, summer is here. It was about 1pm and the sun was out, beaming at her prime time. I was tending to the beehives in the backyard, while the new edition to the family; Mina, a little Shetland collie was doing the usual and running around the fence, as if it was her own little Kentucky derby. My mom, aunt, and grandma were preparing a Koreans summer delight, Korean noodle dish; nam nyum. It was also one of my grandpa’s favorite dish, it has thin buckwheat noodles, in a cold chilled broth, along with thin sliced Korean cucumbers fermented in rice vinegar with a boiled egg and kimchi on the side. My older brother was gathering some Korean cucumbers and Korean gynps; gynp is one of my favorite vegetable leaves ever. Dad was just swinging on the hammock and enjoying the summer breeze, until mom called us in for, “lunch!” Mina also knows this word, so she beat us to the door before we even got to take our first step there. I helped set up the table and got the fancy silver chopsticks out along with some extra banchan from the refrigerator. Dad said grace and then everyone started digging in, but I ended up pausing time. I have the ability to pause time and re-live old memories at will. Whenever family is over like this and we have nam nyum which is almost every Saturday, I pause time right after dad says grace. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I opened my eyes, and saw I was in the backyard, right where I wanted to be. It was a the 18^th of July in 2015, a mornings Saturday, reliving my 17-year-old self again. We didn’t have the bees at the time or Mina, but we did have the beautiful stalks of Korean cucumbers flourishing. My grandpa called me over and showed me how to take off the cucumbers from the stem without damaging the entire plant, and that’s right when mom called us in for lunch. We were always the last ones to the table, because somehow, we’d end up getting distracted either by a weed in the garden and start picking at it, or grandpa would want to show me something else with another plant. Once we got inside, lunch was nam nyum, just how every Saturday is. Dad said grace and that’s when it cut back to reality, I do this quiet often. In the beginning, I’d have to be careful because the first time I did this, and cut back into reality, I would have tears at the table, and everyone was confused to why I was crying. I got better at it though, this time, when I got resumed reality, Mina farted which made everyone laugh. I wish my grandpa was here to see the beehives and Mina, I think he would love Mina since she’s so lively along with her beautiful coat. Grandpa never liked cats, he would always shoo away the neighbor’s cats, mostly because they were just unsightly and dirty. After everyone finished eating and cleaning up, I went to go get some bingsoo, which definitely hit the spot on a hot humid day like today. Sometimes I get nervous when the lines long and I don’t know which item on the menu to order, so I pause time so I can figure it out, taking all the time I need. Once I got back, I actually decided to make a little sweet bee bath, literally, I made a little mixture for the Russian honeybees. I made sure the water wasn’t too cold or else I was afraid they would’ve gotten brain freeze, I’m not sure if they can even get brain freeze in the first part but there’s nothing wrong with being too cautious with these little gals. In a few minutes, I had a handful of bees sitting around the bee pool relaxing in the sunshine. I paused time again as my eye caught something shiny in midair, right when I turned my head, I saw a little teal looking circle between my zinnia bed. It was a little Phidippus audax, also known as a jumping spider! His little teal fangs caught my eyes, he had his hands spread out and then I realized he was about to catch a meal. Across from him was a little cricket chewing up on the zinnia petals, this was the perfect opportunity to catch a nice shot. I ran inside to get my Nikon D7000 and micro lens, popped right out and zoomed in. This is how I’ve been winning photography contests, mostly revolving around micro subjects. I clicked away and when I got enough shots, I resumed time and the little jumping spider scored himself a snack. I don’t win all of them of course and use this ability, because then that would not be fair game. I’ve told only the bees of this tale and my close friend, the bees seemed to hint to me they wanted it to always be summer and spring. If I listened to them, they probably would become lazy and not pollinate anything which would be a loss for my garden and the rest of the neighboring gardens. My friend bugs me as well, wondering why I don’t use this for any gain. I explained I am using my ability for my personal gain, by being able to enjoy the simple things in life. No amount of wealth or fame can elicit the same feeling when you see your own seed sprout into an amazing veggie patch. My friend thought I was ridiculous for not using it for anything but plants and rewinding time, she begged me to do all these things for her, but I stopped time since she was blabbering too much. I wish people would realize the simple things in life really give a kick of joy, maybe that’s why grandpa always was in the dirt. Now that I’m older, I appreciate gardening more than ever. He was a man of a few words, but he always told me as a kid, “time never comes back.” He wasn’t wrong but I am able to relive memories haha! I wonder if he’d have a problem with that if he found out I could pause or relive memories.