Hye-jae: Book 4

New Orleans Adventures Part 22

In the days following Hye-won's night in Manhattan, she often thought about her late-night conversation with Julie.  At random moments of her day, snippets of Julie's lonely thoughts would run through her mind.  The story of the protracted break-up that she had endured - and was now trying to put behind her - had been heart-wrenching.  Hye-won might be cooking lunch for the children or checking emails after they were in bed, when sad phrases - withdrawing...criticise me for being me...when we were each other's world...fix us - would pop into her consciousness.  Most commonly though, it was during her pre-dawn stretches and balances by the water's edge - when her mind roamed freely, as her body worked steadily - that the memory of the pain in Julie's eyes would stir Hye-won's soul and she would feel stabs of that pain, as though it were her own.  Even harder was knowing that her friend had suffered such trauma, while she herself had been so blissfully happy with Seon-jae and their little ones.  In those moments of pain, Hye-won would find herself imagining being back in the ethereal beauty of the Glen of the Faeries from that night, after Julie had hugged her tightly at the door of her guest room and wished her sweet dreams.  It's as if my mind transformed that painful story into a fantasy of pure joy, as an antidote to the sadness.  Though it could have just been the effects of that second cocktail, of course.  Her funny train of thought had her smirking to herself, even as she squeezed her glute and thigh muscles to improve her balance in the lunging warrior pose.

Transitioning to the tree pose - standing on her right foot, with her left propped along her thigh and her hands clasped together in prayer position - her mind recalled the phone conversation she had had with Julie a few days later, when she had tentatively asked if there was anything that she could do to help her: 'I know that we are going to work together in the future but maybe we could spend more time together...on the weekends...I could come into the city more often.'

Her friend had given a gentle laugh: 'Hye-won, minding your babies while Seon-jae is touring means that you don't have time to travel to the city, though I really think you and Seon-jae should celebrate when his tour ends - it's been very hard for you all.'  You have that right.  'And your listening ear has already been an enormous kindness.'

Hye-won eased her body into the straight lines of the plank pose, remembering how she had tried to press the point, though her friend had urged her to be happy in her love and life: 'I'll be honest, it makes me happy to think of your happiness and it gives me belief that the magic spark is real and it's out there - for me - for anyone who is open to it.  And after reading that comment on the website about how Teddy's niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, would have loved what we did, I have decided to follow her well-known advice - do 1 thing every day that scares you - and some of that is about learning to love this new life that I have made for myself.'

Hye-won eased from plank to cobra - stretching her body from the waist upwards to mimic the cobra with its hood raised - and now the memory of her incredible dream in The Glen with Seon-jae flooded through her again, filling her with whispers of the excitement she had felt.  She drew on the positive energy of those happy recollections and felt it power her pose, before she moved to a cross-legged position - hands on either knee, thumbs and fore-fingers touching.  She closed down her eyes to savour the freedom she felt, as the yoga teacher ended the session - feel the calm reach deep into your core and allow it to release all the love and light that you feel inside.  She loved this sweet calm that flowed through her and though her mind still felt the pain that Julie had spoken of, it made her feel - even more strongly - how incredibly blessed she was to be living this sweet, fulfilled life. I never could have imagined I'd be this lucky...or this happy.  And she felt the love and light surge through her and knew it was powerful and precious.