ALTER LIFE

I knew I had to make this choice, the most difficult yet the most important choice of my life. My mom had tears in her eyes, trembling hands from the tension of taking sides for one of us, me or my dad.

Being a stubborn old man, my father stood next to the kitchen door and watched me leave the house. I needed to do something to find myself and explore the outer world without the privileges I was born with and I knew this was it. I had to choose one of the doors, the door to the taxi parked in front of my house waiting for me to get in, to take me one step closer to my dreams, the door to my freedom. Or the door of my house, to my parents, their company, they were ready to engage me with every privilege in the world. But entering that door meant giving up my freedom and my dreams and that was something I was never ready to sacrifice. Before I realized that I had closed the door behind me, the door to my house and already started my journey towards freedom.`

For the first time in a while I felt alive, I felt like myself and I knew this was the right choice for me in that exact moment. I felt the cold air on my face, the freshness of the spring winds, the gentle smell of tulips. It all took me back to my childhood trips to the countryside, some of the time I was allowed to roam around In the fields and do what I wanted to do. Growing up was especially challenging when everyone told me what I could and could not do and the pressure to not pursue my dreams because I had a company to run. Although having all the privileges did me some good, but sometimes I wished that I had the choice, that I would be allowed to fight and that I would be allowed to explore my passions.

I was plunged into my thoughts when the car horn behind my cab made me come to my senses. It made me realize that this was everything in the past and I now have a future to concentrate on. Having made the most unexpected and beautiful trip, I was finally there at my destination. I knew it would do me good, being here with the countryside people, their warm hearts and open minded spirit to all the strangers, the flowing water, the fresh air and the freedom do anything, the part I missed all my life. As I get out of the taxi and take a sniff, I get weak in my knees as the smell of the green trees and the colorful flowers fills my nose. I assure the taxi driver I can find my own way from here as I catch the worried look on his face and tell him to take off. Even though it was going to be difficult to prove it to everyone that I made the right choice and that I can succeed even without the privileges, I was ready to take the chances and carry on with this choice which was no less than an adventure for me. With this I started to walk towards the small town called 'Woodpine'.

As I enter the town I see a group of kids playing local games like hide and seek with each other giggling and laughing, enjoying their childhood while it lasts, free from all the tensions of the world.

Some old ladies bargaining with the fruit sellers at the local market, old men sitting on benches talking about the latest news headlines. Even though this might feel like an average country side scene this was something I never experienced and was thrilled to enjoy a typical town view. During my walk towards the farmers market, people notice me and pass me warm smiles which fills my heart with joy and love, a normal human expression I never felt.

I finally stop walking after getting tired and see a cottage near the hill and try and to reach there before dawn. As I reach the cottage and ring the bell, an old lady comes out walking slowly and with a stick, as soon as she approaches me a smile flashes on her face as a gesture of her kindness to me. "May I help you?"she asks

"Do you maybe have a room where I can stay till I am here?"

she smiles and replies"come in kid."

The cottage looked even beautiful from inside, with an ancient fireplace and a shelf full of books from famous authors, flower pots with fresh flowers in it and the light smell of bread being baked filled the house as the clouds fill the sky on a rainy day.

She directs me to an empty room, as i enter the room, I immediately notice the band posters and a guitar resting on one side of the bed and get curious of whose room it is but after I rethink, I realize asking her this would be a bad idea as she might feel like I am invading her privacy. She then affectionately pats me on the back and says"I will give you time to settle, till then I will get warm water for you to take a shower.

"Get me warm water? Isn't there a geyser in the washroom ma'am?"

She laughs rather sarcastically and replies"no child, you're into wood pine not at your fancy city home, we do things here differently."

To which I give a faint smile not knowing what to say.

Five minutes later she comes back with a bowl full of steaming hot water and pours it into a small tub. She then gestures me to pull the rope resting against the tub and when I do it, a plastic wrap covers the small tub and the steams quickly fills in making it a sauna.She smiles at my expression and leaves. I then take the most relaxing shower I've taken in a while, which releases all the tension off my shoulders. I then eat a traditional woodpine meal, avocado spread on bread with scrambled eggs and warm coffee which I love and before I realized I had drifted off to sleep.

I am disturbed by the clucking of hens outside my window, and after another shower and breakfast i start my journey to the town nearby to explore everything.I see markets, small ration shops, general stores and medical pharmacies there.I see small children working in the farms and shops and seeing this makes me wonder about the education system of woodpine which after asking from some local people i get to know that the local school got shut down due to lack of teachers and students enrolling and i knew in that very moment this was my chance to make a change in the life of people here in woodpine and help them secure their future.

I go to the local head of that town to discuss my future plans of reopening the school and helping the kids to study, which he refuses to let me do because of the low rates of students enrolling for education.

I go from street to street, to every house to convince their parents to let their kids study in schools and gather few but enough kids to reopen the school. Education was something I always thought I never wanted because I hated to study and got to school, but seeing these young children work hard to study and educate themselves to have a future made me realize the importance of education and made me realize that education is why I can be here without my father's money and teach these young minds and make them the future of our country. I wasn't easy to teach the kids, but I always thought about how happy their families were to see the school reopen and let their kids be educated and how thankful they were with me for making this happen. I understood the feeling of gratefulness and finding joy in the little things of life like teaching kids. More children started enrolling in the school and more teachers started to volunteer and teach.

Even though it was difficult to adjust here, coming from a totally different background, I knew I did good and seeing the happy faces of the children and their parents and their respect for me, I knew I had made the right choice coming here and exploring what is true happiness and the real meaning of life.