If anyone is ever free enough care to ask any single man in his thirties about what makes his day a perfect day, I have an answer for that. Generally, a perfect day will look something like this: Waking up without an alarm clock, indicating that he has no deadlines for any errands. Slowly brewing his coffee without any music turned on, indicating it is going to be a quiet and peaceful day. Putting on his best clothes and get ready to go out and do his hobbies, indicating that he got things in order and he has the freedom to do the things that matter to him. And when all of these unplanned events go smoothly for the whole day, he will feel great. He tells himself that he has done a great job being himself, and he assures himself this is just enough amount of life for him.
Today was my second time going to a cafe nearby Minato Mirai called Uni Coffee Roastery 1, which is quite a famous coffee chain store around Yokohama area. I don’t have any specific plan in mind this weekend, so I woke up this morning without any alarm, quietly sipped my morning coffee, and felt like going to Uni 1 to do some studying and reading. So almost instantly, I got myself ready, put on my best clothes, and headed to the cafe. One thing I like about this cafe is the big tree that they have ‘planted’ inside as part of their interior. It makes me feel like I’m close to nature while I’m reading or writing. Inspiration just flows. The natural lighting is also a perfect criterion that I’m looking for when choosing a cafe to go to. I love cafes that are surrounded by big glass and get a lot of sunlight from outside. I love when I sometimes get distracted by the shadows from the light hitting the furniture inside the cafe.
encrypted-text
This part of the passage has been encrypted due to privacy concerns from the subject of the story. This is a story of how I met someone who made me realize that my perfect days were not actually perfect. Please skip to the next passage for closure.
Cont.
If today hadn’t been as perfect as it was, I still would have come home thinking how perfect it had gone - a quiet and calm day that unfolded naturally, effortlessly without plans. But today made me realize one important thing - that the reason I would have thought it was perfect, might be because I’ve been giving up on my dreams for too long, and my expectations for life have fallen too low. Seeing her reminded me of the dreams I used to have, the person I aspired to become, and the life I’ve been longing to live. My definition of perfect days had settled at a low bar, when it could actually reach higher. I gave up on my dreams for too long and I had lost my way back to my dreams.
A few days ago, I finished watching Melo Movie 2, a kind of poetic Korean drama. I personally am not a poetic person myself, but I enjoy art that can articulate complicated feelings in simple ways. This drama did exactly that. I loved the scenes and the lines it presented. One line from the drama has stayed with me. In one scene, Kim Mubee said, “I still don’t know what love is. But I do know there are moments when you really need it”. Today felt like that. So far, I’ve had many perfect days in my life, but none of them felt like today. The perfect moments that naturally unfolded today made me realize that my usual perfect days were not yet perfect, not without my dream, and this is the time that I felt that I needed it the most.