Someday

Coolness. Silence. Darkness. Pressure—so much pressure. It surrounded me on all sides. It didn't hurt. It felt just as it always had.

There was nothing before the pressure and the chill darkness. I simply was. Then came the blasting, the roaring, the beeping, and the scraping as people dug through the earth to find me.

The pressure released all at once, and blinding light enshrouded me in warmth. There were hoots and hollers and great cheers of jubilation. My beauty put desire in their eyes. They saw beyond me--they saw what I could be; what I could become for them.

They took me to a house of fire; such heat! It bathed me, softened me, cleansed me. It released me from the impurities that existence had imposed upon my innocence. I swam and I swam with my kith, and we were One! There were no fragments, no space between us. Just a luxurious flow of silken me, flowing and swirling.

Strange and foreign metals were added; they were not of me, but they became part of me. They thickened and hardened me. My once pliable bearing became more firm and unyielding.

Once I'd cooled, I was again in motion; taken from place to place, ever studied and measured, until at last, the Crafter found me.

The Crafter's eyes shone with joyful inspiration while she gazed lovingly upon me. She spoke softly to me, asking me what I wished to become. She saw so much in me that I couldn't see myself. Then she heated me and stretched me, squeezed me, and twisted me until I was a new thing.

The Crafter presented me to the world within a beautiful case for all to see, and my golden elegance pleased all those who looked upon me. I was dainty, charming, and brilliant!

But it was Jay who loved me most; he saw something in me. His eyes glowed with a tender warmth as he bade the Crafter to brand me with words, for I was meant to be a gift. 'Someday', was written upon my face. 'Love, Jay' upon my back.

I was engraved, polished, and gently laid in a box, wrapped with pretty foil paper. Jay took me home and offered me as a token of his love to a beautiful woman--his Beloved!

With joyful tears, she received me and made much of my elegance and grace.

"Someday," she read. In a single word, Jay had engraved all of their hopes and dreams for a different life than the one they'd known apart from each other; a life together...where they'd build a family, loving and close. They'd live in a simple, humble home, with children and pets, and all who enter would be blessed for having been there.

The beautiful woman wore me daily around her delicate wrist. She read my words often, and I never failed to make her smile.

I bore witness to their developing life together. I watched their devotion bloom into a living thing, a thing that was greater than the two of them, and I was proud to be a symbol of their love.

One day, while they were moving and jostling the bedroom furniture, I slipped off the bureau and onto the floor. No one saw me fall. I tried to sparkle, I tried to glare, but nothing within my power could draw their attention to me, and alas underneath the bureau I stayed.

From there, I saw and heard many great things that came to pass! Little feet padded by me--first, there was one pair, then two, then three, four, and five! Many animal paws clickety-clacked past me as well.

Much lively chaos ensued--ah, the noise--little voices babbling, shouting, crying, singing, and laughing. There were tiny voices and deep voices, some that were smooth as silk, and some that were rough and crackly. Through it all, there was laughter, and there was love. Their Someday had arrived!

Over time, I noticed that the tones of the adult voices changed... The laughter faded. There was anger and pain in the words they spoke to each other. Fewer and fewer signs of love passed between Jay and his Beloved, and I began to worry. 

One evening, I noticed teardrops falling to the floor near the bureau and the sound of drawers being emptied. That's when Jay's Beloved found me. She lifted me to her tear-streaked face gently. Slowly, she read my faded words, and the pain in her eyes put a knot in my chain.

Jay entered the room beside her and his eyes, too, fell upon me, his finger traced the word 'Someday' on my face, and 'Love, Jay' on my back. His eyes welled with tears, and they looked at each other, Jay and his Beloved. Forever they gazed into each other's tearful eyes and recalled what I symbolized. They remembered their dreams for this future, which had now become the present. They remembered the years of joy, of love, of closeness, and they were moved. Jay took her hand and placed me in her palm, closing her fingers over me.

"I'm willing to try," he said. "I'm willing to fight for us." He took her hands. "I want our Someday back. I want you back."

Through her tears, his Beloved nodded. "I want that too," she replied. "I want our, 'Someday', and I want you."

Then there was much I didn't understand, being an inanimate object and all, but I knew wholeheartedly that their love was renewed that day.

Soon, Jay took me back to the Crafter, who polished me so that I shone like the sun. She rebranded my special words, and once again I adorned the wrist of Jay's Beloved.

I saw their lovely home, I saw the children--all five! I saw the dogs, cats, birds, geckos, and fish. I saw laughter and weeping, dancing and arguments, and I saw health and illness...all woven into a beautiful tapestry of love.

Their 'Someday' had indeed arrived, and it was even lovelier than I had dreamed!

All was well with the world until, alas, once again I fell behind that damned bureau!

Much the same as before, time marched on, and I listened to their lives, their perfectly imperfect 'Someday', until the sounds grew quieter. Fewer and fewer were the padding footsteps and the click-clacking claws. The laughter and tears, singing and dancing, arguing and making love happened less often. Very quiet their 'Someday' had become.

One day, when an elderly, gnarled hand reached under the bureau and pulled me forth, I was amazed. My, my, how they had aged, Jay and his Beloved!

Yet still her watery blue eyes gazed upon me joyfully, murmuring my words as she shuffled towards Jay. With only a smile she dangled me before his eyes, and he laughed with his tired, aged eyes.

I sit now in an honored place within the tokens of their love. She still wears me on occasion, gazes at me more often, and always murmurs the words written upon me: 'Someday', 'Love, Jay'.