31 October 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2907: step back

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Life often feels like a dance — one step forward, two steps back.
I’ve had more than a few of those in my time.

There were moments when I should have died.
Once, a hand — I still don’t know whose — pulled me back from the front of a moving bus.
Another time, during an icy rainstorm, I slipped and fell on the road, and a car was coming straight at me. Out of nowhere, an old man with a beard appeared and reached out his hand.
And once, when I was sick with the virus for fourteen long days, I dreamed I was flying above my hometown. A soft, familiar voice said, “It’s not your time yet — go back, your children need you.”

When my mother passed away, it felt like the world stopped. That was a huge step back — one that took years to process. But not long after, my son and daughter were born. Two little steps forward that brought light back into my life.

At twenty-five, the love of my life left me. I thought that was it — that no one would ever stay again. Yet, years later, in the darkest days after my mother’s death, I met a woman behind a store counter who became my wife.

There were times when I only had enough money for a loaf of bread and a liter of milk. I didn’t give up. I studied and worked construction with my father until we paid off every debt and even managed to save a little.

And when I lost my job because two of the director’s favorites took my place, I thought I had stepped back again. But somehow, new doors opened — by chance, or maybe not.

Maybe life is never about constant progress. Maybe every step back is just a test of faith.
Maybe good really does return to those who give it — and maybe, someone up there is watching and keeping count.