Surprise, surprise

I have missed the element of surprise. That feeling, intimately connected to the ideal of acting in accordance to a set of rules, which instigates the separation of rules of reality generating events in every day life from rule-of-thumb expectations.

But then again, should you lower your expectations, everything may come as a surprise.

Precisely, not having any expectations is a surprise in itself.

Preaching that you have no expectations, then, has to be some kind of mantra. Receiving a gift for any occasion would not be defined by its value. A box of chocolates would be equal to a caress, a gesture, a glance.

Significance would derive from the mere thought of the surprise.

And then you have surprises that come from the mundane. When you see that the trees on Stasinou and Salaminos Avenues are sprouting vividly after they were butchered a couple of months back, you’re surprised.

When you come across the new Strovolos Municipality cultural centre, you’re equally surprised.

You could also be surprised when you see a toddler walking up to his father in a park who is adamantly trying to capture a selfie of his son, only to deter any physical interaction between the two in order to capture ‘the photo’.

That’s also surprising.

Agreed. Surprises ring alarm bells, whether in the negative or positive. I assume that what you do about these surprises is indicative of how the course of your daily trot is defined. Perhaps the element of surprise I have missed is a more restricted one. One where expectations don’t matter because they are unprecedented.

Yes, an unprecedented surprise. That’s what I miss.

***Published in The Cyprus Weekly Newspaper, June 14, under column entitled “Artichoke” @MelissaHekkers