Lights on the Sea

by Miquel Reina

“A home isn’t built with walls or determined by where we are,” Aga said. “A home is built from our experiences, from the people we meet along the way, and, more than anything, from how we decide to journey through life. Life is movement. A precarious equilibrium that can change in an instant.”

“Life is a nomadic journey, Mr. Grapes. A road without trees to shelter us from the rain, without shoulders on which to rest, without lighthouses to show us the way when we are lost. I can’t waste the life I’ve been given by standing still and lamenting the past until my days run out. I must get up and fight; I must keep providing for my family. I must keep moving forward, not just for myself, but also for my daughter and for all those who are no longer with us. Because in the end, that’s why we’re here, right? The only reason we are given life is to live it.”

“There is nothing we can do about death. It’s out of our control. As long as we are alive, the only thing we can do is live.”

“The past can be a heavy burden,” Aga said. “How do you lighten it?” Mary Rose asked, turning to Aga, her eyes shimmering with tears. “You can’t,” Aga answered firmly. “But we can become stronger, so the weight doesn’t hold us back on our journey.”

“Life is a constant journey. We move from one place to another,” said Aga. “The journey is what makes a fish different than a rock, movement different from stillness, light from darkness, life from death.”

“According to our ancestors, the sky is an enormous dome made of the strongest, most resilient material in the universe,” Aga told her. “Beyond the horizon lies eternity, the land of the dead. It’s a place made of light that we see only when a soul slowly ascends to it, delighting us in its perfection, erasing our sorrow, and reminding us of the beauty in our world.”

“We failed him by allowing our pain to extinguish his light. We turned his memory into the anchor that put an end to all the dreams we shared.”

“It’s not about the time we’ve wasted, Rose, but about what we do with the time we have left.”

It was the light of those who have embraced life in all its wonder. Of those who have enjoyed their time and the people they love. It was the light of those who accept their own mortality at the end of their journey. Lives no longer filled with regrets but with the certainty of having fulfilled their destiny and faithfully lived out their dreams.