My Wanderings - 70. Short Story No. - 50 Confession of Aprana's Mother

Aparna was very happy and radiant with joy as she  got a dream job in a multinational company with a very  good prospectus and high package. She had already postponed all her marriage proposals so far , as she    wanted  first to settle  properly in life . Now she was looking for a person ideally suited to herself as a close friend or romantic life  partner .  She was already in  friendship  with  two  boys , whom she liked  so  much.They were also loving her to the hilt.  In her opinion both were equally  nice guys and worth to be considered for prospective grooms for her. But she was confused to make a right choice between the two  for her  life partner .  She thought it better to  consult her mother regarding this.
'Have you ever been in love with two men at once , Mother ?'
Her mother took a pause . A distant look came in to her eyes , as she went in search of a time that was almost  lost.
'Yes , I have .'
Aparna stared at her with amazement .
'Your father was my first and greatest love ',she said and I am still happy with him . When I was of your age my friends and I believed that love was the only reason for living . If you failed to find someone there then you can not realise your dreams .After i met your father , I realised my search was over . Then we got married and you were born. Suddenly the whole world fitted in my small  home . But with the passage of time your father remained busy with his work and  I started feeling  forlorn . Strange worries of unknown origin started creeping   in   my mind . I could not reconcile my self with the daily schedule of  life,  which sometimes appeared to me meaningless . Perhaps my role  in this universe was being overlooked and I was taken for granted .
But when I entered  middle age, I met a strange man through social media. He was an Artist . We exchanged our  views on every subject  with  each other . He made me feel very important to the world  . All my problems I had been grappling with, disappeared . I felt really useful and started telling him everything . I felt necessary and that is the best feeling a human being can have . I felt  the time passed with him quickly and I sensed he also felt the same. Only once in my life I met this man personally . I could see in his eyes  that he desired me  , and I also felt the same. Once he tried to express his feelings for me but I  forbade him from doing so by saying that feelings should be within and no need to say anything . Maturity is in knowing and accepting with grace . Trust is very important .  Sometimes We  both  were behaving   like middle aged  adolescents . But age is no criterion in such things and love is not the  monopoly of adolescents  only , I believe .   This  heart is a mysterious thing which can  betray  its  holder at any stage of life  . I suddenly lost contact with him one day and every thing passed off peacefully with the passage of time .  I personally believe  that he made a  graceful exit from my life to prevent me from any embarrassment .
But tell me Mother , it never occured to you  that you were going against the norms , I mean being a married  woman .
To tell you the fact  Dear Aparna , I never left loving your father for a single day . But breaking a norm sometimes , makes your life more  thrilling  as  some  poet has said that you  are dying slowly if you don't follow a dream , if you don't allow yourself to evade a sensible advice at least once in your life time.
Yes mother these  lines are  from the poem of   Brazilian poetess Martha  , who won Nobel Prize ,responded Aprana .
The mother's confession however,  confused Aprana  further and she could not derive much relevance from  it  with her own problem . 
Her mother sensed what was cropping up in the mind of Aprana . She said," I can only guide you by my experiences in such matters of  sensibility.  I can't hold your hand  and show you the right choice . You have to make the right  choice yourself by using your own  impulses and  faculties . You must think of a person who is not someone you can walk away from  that so easily. It must be someone you can not imagine being with out ,a person you believe sticking with or fighting for.
After listening to her mother's advice and experiences , Aprana took  the cue  from it and made the decision, which appeared right to her at the moment.