Not Another Smile
I had dinner with Wen in Lygon.
I picked the restaurant. Lygon Street is one of my favourite parts of Melbourne, and tonight, I desperately needed to be reminded of why I once loved the city so much.
Dinner was great. I ordered my favourite pasta, she had her usual risotto. We chatted, we laughed, and we filled each other in with things that's been happening in our lives.
As usual, I felt the need to put up a brave face and a smile. I spoke of my time off as if it was a getaway in Bahamas, I told one of the sad stories that broke my heart like I was telling a joke I heard from someone else.
Maybe it's just the Aries in me.
Maybe I just never got over those two powerful lines that I read in a poem as a teen - "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.".
I have welcome-back dinners lined up every day this week. Italian with Wen tonight, Greek with Cathy tomorrow, Shanghainese dumplings with Dorothy and her boyfriend the day after.
But all I want to do is to stay in bed and cover my face with a blanket so my tears can flow freely.
I just don't have the energy to fake another smile.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAc0FljxNWnis3g1_sE7kMMUhjleuCafoTq6ctL1H9Fa09QupY6a0vdQTC3se0wzlWglhAIu2R4eq_4SkcsdRZI8FRhb3S0hWmYqyyhe4fgQPGmWpV9U8b-ZG0GuA8KV9hXSF-TA/s320/25.jpg)
I picked the restaurant. Lygon Street is one of my favourite parts of Melbourne, and tonight, I desperately needed to be reminded of why I once loved the city so much.
Dinner was great. I ordered my favourite pasta, she had her usual risotto. We chatted, we laughed, and we filled each other in with things that's been happening in our lives.
As usual, I felt the need to put up a brave face and a smile. I spoke of my time off as if it was a getaway in Bahamas, I told one of the sad stories that broke my heart like I was telling a joke I heard from someone else.
Maybe it's just the Aries in me.
Maybe I just never got over those two powerful lines that I read in a poem as a teen - "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.".
I have welcome-back dinners lined up every day this week. Italian with Wen tonight, Greek with Cathy tomorrow, Shanghainese dumplings with Dorothy and her boyfriend the day after.
But all I want to do is to stay in bed and cover my face with a blanket so my tears can flow freely.
I just don't have the energy to fake another smile.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAc0FljxNWnis3g1_sE7kMMUhjleuCafoTq6ctL1H9Fa09QupY6a0vdQTC3se0wzlWglhAIu2R4eq_4SkcsdRZI8FRhb3S0hWmYqyyhe4fgQPGmWpV9U8b-ZG0GuA8KV9hXSF-TA/s320/25.jpg)