Life & Photography

Unlocking The Past

"Come on Rose, you can do this." Laylal said. "I know you can."

I take a deep breath.

"I can't believe you remembered the exact spot of where you put this lock." Olivia said.

Victoria nudges Olivia to shut up. Victoria then walks to the new engaged couple.

"She must have good memory." Nickelle said.

"No kidding." Giselle said.

A few feet away, Alexandra and Daniel were placing their lock on the bridge. Victoria was taking the picture of that moment for their engagement announcement that will be sent out once we get back home on American soil. That will be tomorrow just before noon.

Laylal had a lock in her hand, with initials and a date written on it. She was on FaceTime with Benjamin.

💭Here goes nothing. 💭

I had the key to my lock in a chain around my neck. I took off the necklace and took the key off of the chain.

💭No turning back now.💭

"Laylal, take this chain to keep the key for Benjamin." I say.

Laylal takes the chain.

"Benjamin wants to know if you're okay." Laylal said.

"All good." I said as I unlocked the lock.
Olivia took a quick video for my Snapchat with "that was then, this is now" as the caption. I look into the camera, took off my floral shades and said, "It's for the better."

I get up and put the lock and key away in my purse.

💭It's done. Vincent and I are officially over. There is no turning back. I can't turn back. After how he'd broken my heart.💭

Olivia hands me my phone and pats my shoulder, symbol of a friend telling me that I will be okay.

💭I'll be okay.💭

Laylal and Benjamin's lock will take the place of where my old love lock once was.

Once Layal locked the lock, she took a picture of the lock, a selfie with the lock and the picture of the key on the chain around her neck. She sent those pictures to Benjamin. They said a few words before Laylal hung up.

Laylal gave me a very deep and meaningful hug.

💭It was what I needed.💭

I put my shades on my head to keep my hair away from my face.

That's when I found the lock I put on this bridge a few months ago for my grandparents who reunited in heaven a few years ago.

💭I wanted to cry because I promised my mother that we would come here and get rid of their key together.💭

I started to cry. Laylal, Olivia and Victoria hugged around me.

I wiped my tears and put the shades over my eyes.

💭I'm okay.💭

My past was unlocked, ready to be faced and maturely move on from.

I took out my camera and took a picture of my grandparents' love lock.

💭That's a keeper.💭

That moment I made an oath to myself to come back here with the one that will never let me go. Ever.

💭Thank you Vincent for this relationship. I learned to never get too attached to someone cause you never know who they're talking to, who they're missing, who they're waiting on, and lastly who they're wishing they were with. Thanks to you. Now I know to keep my eyes wide open and to be more cautious when it comes to loving someone. 💭

"Are you okay?" Giselle asks me.

I nod. Then I say, "Oui."

I put on one earbud and listen to some music.

My Everything by Ariana Grande was restarted.

🎧Pain is just a consequence of love, I'm saying sorry for the sake of us.🎧

This song and the moment I was having just now had me thinking as cool breeze came out of nowhere.

Looked through social media, I saw a quote.

🔱You can learn a lot from your mistakes when you aren't denying them.🔱

💭That's true. 💭

As I kept reading the quote, I heard my mother's voice saying this in my head.

I liked the picture with the quote.

I found another quote.

🔱No matter how much it hurts now one day you'll look back and realize that it changed your life for the better.🔱

It's true though, everything happens for the better.

Doing what I just did made things for the better.

It's for the better.