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Thirty Minutes That Last a Lifetime
Soulfully written by Gong Jae Ok
* * * * * * * *
*
A lot can in thirty minutes, anything really. *
Thirty minutes is such a small fraction of *
the day. Half an hour or two good solid quarters. *
Eighteen thousand seconds to be precise. You might *
argue and fight with your partner over who is most offended
or who did the dishes last time. You might make love for the *
first time with the date you are so attracted to. You might ride
the train after having visited your childhood friend after the *
surgery of oval cancer. You might commute to and fro
work when interning at the embassy. You might see *
an ad or hear about a movie that you really want
to see. You might write that first shitty draft *
of that article you postponed for so long. *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * *
*
_____
A lot can happen in thirty minutes,
* anything really. A great grandfather
taking his last breath just about his
* daughter had the time to bid him
farewell. A newborn baby girl taking
her first breath entering this world
after a very difficult birth taking
a toll on her mother.
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*
* * * * *
* * * * * * * *
A newly engaged couple fortunate
to get pregnant with the most adorable *
baby girl. A very happy couple embarking
on the life of parenthood. A long-life dream *
coming true after several years of trying to get
pregnant. A newly father-to-be holding his daughter *
in his arms for the first time. An extremely exhausted
but divinely happy new mother-to-be after a marathon *
birth. A father fetching the Lion King to watch with
his daughter when she gets a little bit older than
only a few weeks old. A worrying mother who *
can hardly bear Simba losing his father at
such a young age with his uncle Scar *
feeding him with the lie that Simba
was the bearer of his own father’s *
death. A husband telling
her not to worry. *
* * * * *
_____
* * * * * * * * * * *
* mother, a father and a baby girl longing for no
more than being in their bubble of endless days
* and nights not knowing for sure what day it is
or what time it is of the day. If it is broad
daylight or night because none of those
* things really matter. Only the little
girl’s well-being matters.
*
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* * * * *
Wonder.
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* * * * *
Relish.
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*
* A newly
born who cries
when the father tries
* * * to sneeze as quietly as
he can. They are
so very much
* * * * * *
* * * * *
falling in love
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_____
with this little creature they do
yet don’t know but would
* protect and give their
lives for. A happy
prospect
* in
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*
* * * * *
getting-to-know
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their little baby girl.
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A lot can in thirty minutes, anything really.
But the thing is that everything and * *
anything can or could happen. *
We just don’t know. We can
do anything really but *
reverting time even though
we wish to dear death that we
could. Not even for half an hour. *
Not even that, especially not knowing
beforehand what to look for or what to change. * * *
Thirty minutes is not a very long time.
A lot can happen really.
Anything really. So, when
the newly formed family
and the father turns ill, no
one knows what will happen,
not even himself and not the slightest
the baby girl. Turning sick in the middle
of the night and even though hurrying and
scurrying to the emergency with an ambulance *
doesn’t seem to cut to the chase. They couldn’t *
make it. The caregivers couldn’t make it even
though they did everything in their power
trying to save his life. It was too late.
There were too many hurdles and
too large to handle. Everyone
executed
the performance of their lifetime.
* * *
They needed more time.
The doctor, the nurses,
the ambulance team,
the receptionist,
everyone fought
hard trying to
save his life
but it was
too late.
* * * Too late.
* *
A lot can in thirty minutes,
anything really. Thirty minutes
is a long time if and when you
want to save a life. It is half an hour
too long. It is thirty minutes too late.
It is an eternity really for anyone to wait
those particular thirty minutes. They needed
more time, if only thirty minutes, 1 800 seconds.
They were newly engaged. A father to a baby girl,
two three months old. And my heart breaks writing
this. He was not supposed to die. Not now when he got
everything that he ever wished for. He is too young to bury.
* * * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * * *
*
And this is one of those days when even the specialist doctors and nurses confess that life’s not fair. And this
is one of those days when even the whole team
cannot hold their professional side at bay but
simply shed tears when notifying the newly-
mother-to-be and her three-month-old
baby girl that they could not save his
life. They simply couldn’t save his
life and how genuinely wretchedly
sorry they were to give this shattered
family of three turning into two persons.
A widow with her three-month baby girl
receiving this unwanted and un-imaginable news.
* * * *
* * * *
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He wasn’t supposed to go. Not yet, anyways. An 80-year-old man may take his very last breath yes but not a strong, healthy, happy, newly engaged man in his 30s. Not with a three months old baby girl waiting for her daddy to come home and cuddle with her.
* * *
And later, after their night shift, when it is time for the
caregivers at the hospital to leave their workplace and return to
their families and loved ones. They tell them that last night was not
a great day.
* * *
_____
They tell them that he and his
team were not able to save a person’s
life. A young man’s life. He didn’t make it.
He was a father to a baby girl. He was too
severe to treat and the ambulance did
their best but it was too late.
* * *
And while telling their loved ones,
their voices crack and their hearts break
a little for the fatherless girl and a father never
getting the chance to watch her grow up. See
her from going from toddler to a child. Him
never being able to watch her grow up.
Him never being able to watch
* * *
* * *
* the lion king *
_____ with her.
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
And a lot can in thirty minutes.
Anything really. Argue but make
* sure to make peace before you go
to bed. Make love again and again and
again with your recent date. Be sure to ride
the train and get off somewhere you have never
* been just to change the scenery every now and then.
Commence a most unexpected conversation with
a stranger while commuting to and fro work.
Tell your best friend that you love her even
* though you saw her one hour ago. Set a
date to that movie you really were
curious about after you had seen
* the advertisement. Do not only
write an article but send it in
submissions. Who knows,
you might get published.
* * *
* * *
* * *
*
* *
* * * *
* * * * * *
* A mother with a three month *
baby girl only recently recovered from *
the birth of her baby girl now also a widow
needing not only to grieve but handle a funeral
in the midst of life. In a time of her life, only just
now starting a family and she is supposed to be in
her bubble, bubble of fatigue, exhausting, worrying
about how to breastfeed the best way possible, having
family and friends coming over in something seemingly
never-ending congratulations on Facebook, flowers and
not to mention all the baby clothes and toys lying around
everywhere on the floor in the apartment. To set a date for
a most unwanted, not to mention an unlikely funeral and
simultaneously postponing a very welcome baptising. And
so, it became true, the lion King, an infant losing his father
at an early age. Despite this tragic loss, I am quite certain that
the daughter’s father will be her greatest protecto I am also
convinced that he will follow her, guard her wherever she goes
in her lifetime, whatever she intends to make out of her precious
life, whoever she may encounter, whatever she may find out and
whoever she will transform into. His spirits will be there to gently
embrace her emotions, her energies and also the energies around her.
He will not only protect his daughter but he already made a bond
between this precious and adorable little girl and her mother
stronger than ever. In other words, no one, nothing, anything or
* anybody can break this bond. It was his pardon gift and last
* wish before he took his very last breath here on Earth. *
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * *
*
* * *
* * * * *
He affirmed it into the universe;
an unbreakable bond stronger than
anything and anyone. A bond that lasts
not only this lifetime but several lifetimes
to come. He, also, made the bond irreversible,
which means no one can go back in time to
undo the chain that was set in motion prior
to his death. The bond is made out of the
strongest material there is; diamonds
containing only diamonds and
layers of polished, as well as
unpolished diamonds.
Diamonds tailor-made
by divine interventions
and himself. With this
being said, this little baby
girl will grow up and accomplish
great things. Greater and grander things
that either her or her mother can possibly
phantom at this stage of their lives where most
of it deals with the loss of a father, loss of husband,
lover, life partner. She will grow up and reign her own
* Queendome with her chosen King, Queen or Queer *
* (who is to say) in a land that is not too far from here.
* In the land of promise. She will tell the whole *
* Queendome about her father. How loved he *
* * * was. How longed for he was. * * *
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * *
How genuine he was.
How delicate and special
he was. How he made her life
complete. How he worshipped her.
And he, her beloved and trusted father,
will continue to do so with his spirits. His
soul will gently guide her and her darling mother
while stumbling upon life and finding new paths, leaving
footprints everywhere for him to follow, guard and protect.
* * * * All in alignment with * * * *
* * divine * *
interventions,
guardian angels and
other force majeure there
is in this world. If you get a
glimpse of a treasured diamond,
please note that it belongs to him
but only in another setting, only
now communicating to *
* and with us from the
spiritual world.
* * *
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GONG Jae Ok 