Land of the Great White Elephant

I woke up from a bit of sleep to use the bathroom and couldn’t get back to rest afterwards. In your thirties, there’s a certain kind of soberness that greets you at three in the morning in the hallway – like a postcard in the mail with no return address simply stating: you are here.

Later that morning, I had a dramatic dream about a giant ancient ivory elephant and young white ram battling each other for power over territory. I tried to run from their charge as they continued to hunt each other wildly through the air, land and sea.

Finally, the young white ram lost and was dragged by its horns with a great white noose into the ocean. Floating in its magnificent defeat, the ram now looked like a grand unicorn disappearing among the whitecaps.

When I woke up again, I realized… I was mourning my twenties and all that it had represented.

The End of Seven Years of Mourning

Every culture has its rituals around life, love and death. I believe in commemorating the passage of time, events and the people who have shaped us. But seven years later, it’s time to let go of certain rituals that only bind us to a place of tragedy. Life is short, afterall. So this weekend, I took a special trip and trusted in something new in front of me.