Ruth's Real Life

It's time to adventure again. Last night, I dreamed I was lost on the Great Wall of China. I was climbing a never-ending stairway alongside which a magnificent river rushed into a dark green gorge. Even in my dream, I knew it wasn’t the Wall. I have climbed a section of the Great Wall and it was nothing like this. In 2005 I undertook, what in my head, was a pilgrimage to China. I was in a state of flux in my life and when the opportunity to go presented itself, I  didn't  hesitate. I went on my own, knowing very little of what awaited me. One thing I was determined to do was to journal my experience and to try to extract a lesson from each week that I was there. I came away with my eight China lessons but after my return I understood that I had journeyed  26 000  kilometers  to learn the power of just two words. Let go. And I did. I let go of toxic opinions of myself. I was able to see myself in a more powerful way. I felt a newness of ...

The Message by Ruth Everson (This story won the 2010 Woman and Home short story competition.) ‘Would you like to go to China?’ Anne stirred her tea with the usual amount of violence that she reserved for most tasks. ‘You can use your long leave. You’d be gone for eight weeks. My uncle needs someone to teach communications while he’s away in Lagos.’ Nothing in her forty nine years had prepared Ellen for the answer she was about to give. China was a moon journey away from the narrow, East Rand town where she had grown up believing that adventures could be dreamed but never lived. The reply was out before the fear that had made her heart retreat so many times could say no again. There was nothing to lose and when there’s nothing to lose, courage is easier to find. Two years of bending herself into contortionist shapes to fit a dead-end relationship had left her heart heavy and her days full of uncertainty. Ellen felt like a dog, waiting eagerly for a pat on the head...