Autoalgia
The feeling of pleasure and sadness when recalling one’s past self
Shona had hoped, when she stepped onto the now cool sand, backed by blackness and the shushing waves, to walk off the indigestion laying across her belly like an over zealous bra. It had been a good meal, but too oily and too late and though she longed for sleep, she knew she would not be laying down anytime soon. Not least because that hotel bed was making her back twinge and her sciatica flare.
Beside her, Bill was talking about getting new carpet for the lounge, now the dog was dead, but Shona was finding it increasingly hard to listen as the throb of music grew louder. Ahead, roving lights in red, yellow and white threw lithe, undulating bodies into silhouette, then swung on, letting them merge to a dark mass of energy, pulsing with the beat.
Shona paused, feeling the reverberations beneath her feet, remembering the feeling of being at once weightless and tethered as she had let herself be lifted by the swell of music, held in the thrall of the crowd, how she had danced until her feet hurt, and then danced on. She looked at Bill, hoping that he was remembering too, that reflected in his eyes she might glimpse the laughing girl she had been when they married. He was looking away, his attention caught by a couple entwined on the sand, and remembering the sweetness of yearning, an ache began to bloom at her solar plexus, mingling unpleasantly with her indigestion.
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Comments (10)
Good,This content is very fine,so I love that it was a Challenge story and Congratulations on your top story.
This really had an emotional journey in it. Your descriptions carried the reader with the character - I felt as she did. Brilliantly done Hannah!
It would be easier to understand if i remembered where my solar plexus is. Wait, i'm a gonna go check. ] is a complex network of nerves located in the abdomen, near where the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, and renal arteries branch from the abdominal aorta. It is behind the stomach and the omental bursa, and in front of the crura of the diaphragm, on the level of the first lumbar vertebra. Thanks for that, now I am confused and educated on the solar plexus. Then you added indigestion. Wonderful story Hannah. 🥰🥰🥰🥰 But seriously. I always feel like crying and laughing when my past rears its head. So I am not alone. Good to know.
Yes! Mostly happiness when I think about past versions of myself. But of course, If I could do some of it differently, I would. Great entry!
I feel all the time what Shona was feeling! So glad to have a word for it! Loved your story!
Great word story. You described the feeling so well.
I really liked this story, the descriptions are very powerful.
This is a timely story. I was listening to Heart Dance today and was overwhelmed by an urge to dance my pants off at a discotheque or club style venue, waving my hands in the air, like I just didn't care. Instead, I have indulged myself in some "embarrassing Mum dancing", as my kids have named it in the kitchen instead. Sometimes, the yearning is real, Hannah. So real.
Oh God that last line is tragically hillarious. Brilliant! Loved the descriptiveness of the lighting -really made the atmosphere come alive. And bloody billiant word! 🤍
Such contrast intertwined in a very good story. Your word could make it into a dictionary. 😎