I looked down through the clouds at a beautiful world stretching towards a horizon that looked wider than it had ever been. The rivers, lakes and mountains beneath me grew silent. For the first time I could see the world and everything in it including myself - in proportion. It was then that it began to dawn on me how small and insignificant I was in this vast stretch of land and sea.

The sun seemed brighter and the daytime sky was not bright and blue - it was dark. The stars at night didn't twinkle and there were more of them than I had ever imagined. A huge ship that may have seemed big enough to displace the ocean if I had been staring up at it at the dock, now looked helpless and week as it crawled on the seamless blue ocean below. I flew by castles in the clouds, but I could no longer imagine the giants living in them. I was walking into an old dream and could feel the boundless opportunities like a soft breeze on my face. It was the most powerful reassurance I have ever had until then, that dreams can come true.

This story begins with the moment that separated me from a childhood that was filled with joy, love and trust, exposing a darker, more diverse world that was more wonderful and more woeful than I could have ever imagined. I was naive, and hungry for the knowledge of life and the wisdom that I could not gain merely by reading books or by taking a quiet contemplative walk around the Kandy Lake. Inspired by the stories of my friends who had left the shores of home to brave new frontiers, I reached out beyond the horizons into a new chapter in my life. On Valentine's Day, not many years ago, I rode the winds to experience the romance of university life in a land many ocean waves away.

It amazes me now as to how things can change in such a short time, that within a few years, my outlook of life could change so much. That is why I felt I must take the time to look back at the years of my life I have spent in preparation for life itself… To capture the magic of childhood in a time capsule and carry it along with me so that I may never forget that I was once a child.

(To be continued...)

Contact me on pygmaion@gmail.com with your comments