Space

The sky was cloudy that day. I was walking back from hospital, along my usual route. As I make a turn at a curb, just two junctions away from my house, I saw a young boy, just got out of his house. He was wearing a glove in his left hand. And he's wearing that mask baseball players usually wear during a game. On his right hand, he was carrying some sort of small cones.

As he walked out of the house, he went to every corner of the small garden on his front yard. He laid down those small cones every time he stops. One after another, until it finally looked like a border all around the small garden of his.

There was no particular reason for me to be amazed by this young boy's action. But there must be something more to it, that I stopped in my tracks, even for a short moment, and turned my head to get a clearer look at this young boy. Yet, it was very brief, for I was afraid the neighbours might saw me and thought I'm a paedophile. Which of course, I'm not.

Within that brief moment, a thought popped up in my head. Or rather, a memory that has long faded away, suddenly came back, with some questions.

"How can he play baseball in that small garden? There's no space at all!"

And this brings me back to 17 years ago.

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I'm at my house in Malaysia. The place where I grew up as a child. The home where I learn about the world.

I looked through the window and saw my older brother outside. I looked around and realized that I was getting ready myself. I got out of the house and my brother was waiting with a football underneath his right leg.

It's our usual evening activity, playing soccer outside our house, on that cemented floor. We have the house gates as our goals and the whole floor as our playground. Anything beyond the cemented floor is considered 'outside'.

It wasn't very big. The space to move around was limited. Because of that, we had to use all our skills to dribble the ball pass our opponent. We turned and twisted. We shielded the ball and we did whatever technique known to us, to score the goal. I was always at the losing end. My brother used the advantage of having the bigger physique to full use.

Nevertheless, the space was enough for us to reach the goal. And more importantly, we had fun. At the end of it, we both carved a smile on our faces. The ones you see on someone truly satisfied. The type that make others smile with you.

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I was walking towards my house, after a brief distraction earlier. This time, my head was filled with answers to my own question. Subconsciously, I delved further to grasp the deeper meaning of that thought. It's always been my thing. To over-think things.

Finally, I settled with the idea that space, is something everyone needs. How big it is, depends on the baggage that someone is carrying. And as we grow older, the more baggage we're carrying. We want space for each of our desires. We need space for all our responsibilities. The space to breath. The space to relax. Our very own space.

But space is not something we easily get.

Just like the sky is not within our reach, the space beyond it is even far. 

And those who make do with whatever space they have, will be the one who reach their goals. They will be the one who carved  a smile on their face. Just like 17 years ago.