The last one and a half weeks were brutal.
Out of the blue, in the middle of the first week, and unexpectedly especially after we just nailed the deal of a super lucrative acquisition, the CEO announced the latest round of layoffs. It was the very second one in the entire history of this much-loved, caring, young lean to middle-aged company. My team was suddenly twenty five percent down within twenty four hours of the announcement, which was more than three times the projected layoff company-wide.
Worst yet, I was the only person during US time for the first week of layoff and immediately in firefighting mode.
I’ve been a veteran of these scenarios and I appreciate the fast and less than twenty four hours layoff execution style.
With all that said, it was still hard to swallow the shock and sadness when some of these co-workers hurried to slack me to say goodbye by the end of the day. Half of them were exceptionally good at what they were doing, with tracking records of their jobs and educational backgrounds. They expressed shock themselves but comforted me (and themselves) that their entire team was let go so it was likely due to business realignment and cost-saving needs.
While I was firefighting hard as a coping mechanism of the sadness, I still could not stop thinking this is yet another many encounters of me witnessing my traveling companions being spirited away, on an imaginary train that I am riding on my life long journey.
After ten days of hard work, the situation was more or less stabilized. I decided to visit Lake Tahoe.
I need to attend the Kokanee Salmons’ funeral and visit that spot said to be the origin of Miyazaki’s most iconic scene in Spirited Away.
It was the end of the spawning season. We came here to witness the dying process of the parental Kokenee salmon for the sake of their offspring. They turned into the crimson-red color to honor their death and the birth of their children. The mothers never live to see how their children grow up and the dads are said to die soon as well likely after the eggs are hatched.
The color of the dying salmon was so unique and beautiful. That reminded me of the fragment of a poem uttered by a medieval swordsman in one forgotten name movie.
“Let me die a glorious death!”
Kudos for that.
Then we drove to the spot of spirited away. It was first discovered and shared by one of my old college friends in the springtime. The rest of us exclaimed and I saved the spot and made a wish to visit it one day.
Here we came at last and one college BFF joined me as well. We were hopeless romantics and big fans of Miyazaki. And we are still the remaining few willing to drive eight hours round trip just to take a peek at this spot.
Some wildfires were going on nearby. The whole lake was infused with a thin cloud of smoke that made the lake reflection look milky. The water was no longer the usual turquoise blue and lengthy visibility that was so striking in the movie.
This is a place I don’t mind coming back to again and again, till one day it looks exactly like we saw in the movie.
Then I will take off my shoes, walk into the lake, and take a photo of Chihiro walking into the lake to catch the train.
Until then, let me keep counting my time coming back to this spot.
