Hopes are like Hair Ornaments….

By the time you lay your eyes on this post, whether you read this or not (ha ha), I should have been packing my bags and by Saturday I would have been on aย plane to Vienna. In a fewย days time I would have been wearing the nice winter outfits that I bought and I would have been walking down the beautiful streets of Vienna and maybe sitting in one of the cafes having a nice warm Viennese coffee while listening to some classical music.

But due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to cancel thisย Vienna trip that I had long dreamedย of.

I almost died crying. But I didn’t die.

Moms, as they always do, have the habit of reminding you, how you were as a kid. It could be fun, it could be embarrassing. There are things you’ll remember, there are things you won’t.

When I was a toddler, as she said, I wouldn’t stop crying till she buys me an ice cream. She’ll buy not because I want it but out of shame on the scene that I’ve made inside the supermarket.

She said that after sometime, I started asking for wallets and bags whenever we go to malls. I won’t cry anymore but I won’t stop looking at the bag or wallet. I would stand there looking at the thing that I want till she buys it either out of pity on how sad my face was or out of irritation onย my obstinacy.

A different tactic, I would say. A different way of asking you to buy things for me. And Iย will just laugh it off, though to sum it up, I was really a stubborn kid. She doesn’t say it directly and I don’t admit it either.

Back in the 90s, having a whole set of Encyclopedia is like a form of a social status. It’s like, having a set displayed on a nice varnished bookshelf in your living room makes you either look so cool or smart or (rich?) whatever the case is. I think I was just ten years old when I asked my mom to buy that encyclopedia set.

There was this one sales guy who kept coming back to offer the whole set along withย some freebies at a very irresistible deal – thatย we don’t haveย to pay it all upfront. We can pay it monthly, for like a year or two.

Like the sales guy, I didn’t stop asking mom to buy that encyclopedia till she did.

In the end, I did not even read the whole set. I wasn’t even close to finishing one volume, let alone the whole set (of 20 volumes or more). The encyclopedia set, became, a form of a social status, a reference from time to time, and now, an antique display.

My mom did not have to tell this story over and over again for me to remember it as myย memory of it is as clear as the summer sky whenever I see the Encyclopedia set.

Today, while still in remorseย about my canceled trip, I remembered one of the lines in the novel Memoirs of a Geisha.

Young girls hope all sorts of foolish things. Hopes are like hair ornaments. Girls want to wear many of them. When they become old they look silly wearing even one.

–ย Mameha, Memoirs of a Geisha

I can well, replace the word hope, with dreams or aspirations or wants.

I always try to push for the things that I want in any possible way I can, no matter which direction I take. I’ll try because I want to, even ifย I don’t really need to. This is how I always was, and I believe I still am.

Trying to get what you want could be a good or bad thing, and in my case, if I push for what I want this time, it will be the latter.

It broke my heart when I canceled the trip. It’s nearly 4 days away. I could almost see myself wandering in Vienna, experiencing my first white Christmas, venturing Europe for the first time.

I have the time and resources to pursue this trip but the timing isn’t just right.ย There could be a next time, or there could be none.

I’m still crying a river because it hurts not to get what you want, what you’ve always longed for and what you have already looked forward to.

But things are quite different now. It’s not just a matter of ice cream, or purse or bag or a whole set of Encyclopedia. There’s more to life than what we want.

I have really dreamed of this trip and I hope that I’ll get another chance. And if the right time comes, I’ll make sure that the trip won’t be just another ornament on my hair.

18 responses to “Hopes are like Hair Ornaments….”

  1. sorry about your ‘delayed’ trip but as the song goes, “vienna waits for you…” and it probably will. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Liked by 1 person

    1. he he he…hope so… *__* but I’m still crying a river ha ha

      Like

  2. Sorry to hear that you have to cancel this trip. Nakikiramay ako sa iyong pighati. ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

    I hope that someday, somehow, when you get to plan this again–at natuloy–it would be more than what you have imagined. *hugs*

    Liked by 1 person

    1. ha ha ha. angdami kong drama. asan na ba ang voucher ng Frostino LOL

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Tama! Lumaklak ka nalang ng Frostino at isipin mo nalang nasa Vienna ka. Tapos kumain ka na rin ng Vienna sausage. Hahaha

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Bwahahahhaha…lumaklak ng frostino…makapunta na nga lang ng Westzone at makabilo ng Vienna Sausage

          Like

        2. Makabili pala…haha

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          1. ano nakabili ka na????? Hahahaha

            Liked by 1 person

          2. di pa nga eh bwahahahah

            Liked by 1 person

  3. Hopes are like hair ornaments? How creative!!
    I did have the set of World Book Encyclopedias that you mentioned. I forgot about them. Thanks for the chance for me to reminisce.
    I found you on Jason Cushman’s site. You shared a post there, so I wanted to come over and introduce myself.
    Janice

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Janice!

      Thanks for taking time to pass by ๐Ÿ™‚

      Hopes are like hair ornaments >> from one of the passages I’ve read in Memoirs of A Geisha.

      These Encyclopedias, they meant a lot back then he he

      -Alissa

      Liked by 1 person

  4. PS I am sorry for your disappointment over your trip. I did not want you to think I missed the point of your post.
    Janice

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s alright ๐Ÿ™‚

      Thanks again for passing by ๐Ÿ™‚

      Like

  5. i love vienna. sorry for the cancelled trip. it might turn out to be ok in the end, though. i think late summer or early fall is the best time to visit.

    Like

  6. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Liked by 1 person

  7. […] Hopes are like Hair Ornaments […]

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  8. […] naalala niyo ang drama ko tungkol sa napurnada kong Vienna sausage trip, isa na ito sa mgaย dahilan non. Sayang yung mga trench coat at boots at scarf […]

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