Riyam was staring at her dobok hanging from the wardrobe rail. She walked around her room before letting her eyes rest on a photograph on her study desk. It showed a four-year-old girl in a pink bomber jacket, gently held by her father, who stood beside a fierce-looking brown Apollo horse.
“And though every tomorrow will be absent from you, every tomorrow will still contain you.” — Edward Lee
“Every tomorrow, every achievement, every failure and every milestone, Dad,” Riyam whispered to the photograph. “I made it to the final of the National Taekwondo Championship. I made it. The final is tomorrow and I’m scared. Not because I might lose, but because you won’t be there to celebrate with me if I win or to embrace me if I lose.”
Riyam placed the photograph back on the desk. As she looked at it one last time, a memory she had never forgotten came rushing back.
Her uncle and his family were coming to spend the summer in Pakistan from the United Kingdom. It had been two years since they had last visited. Riyam had never really spent much time with her cousins.
“Your uncle is coming, and this time, be patient with your cousins, Riyam,” Mum said. “I know you like your space, but they are family.”
“Are they coming to spend the whole summer holidays?” Riyam asked.
“They’re staying here only for a fortnight. I don’t know what else they have planned,” Mum replied.
When they arrived, Riyam warmly welcomed them. The house soon filled with laughter, love and lively conversations. The two families exchanged gifts, enjoyed feasts together and shared nostalgic stories.
One evening at the dinner table, her cousin asked Dad about the town’s riding club. He was a polo athlete and wanted to visit.
“That requires membership,” Dad told him.
“Are you a member?” Uncle asked.
“No,” Dad replied. “Riyam is and I go with her.”
Her cousins stared at her in amazement. A 13-year-old girl was too young to be a member!
“Riyam takes after you with her love for horses. No wonder she has the membership,” Uncle said to Dad.
“Absolutely,” Dad replied with a smile.
“Amazing,” said his youngest child. “I want to go. The only time I rode a horse was when I was five years old and I fell. Since then, I haven’t been able to convince Dad to let me ride again. How about it, Uncle? Could you take us there?”
“We’ll take you to the club this weekend,” Dad said.
“Oh, great!”
On the day of the visit to the stables, Dad received a work call. Dad told Riyam that she would have to go with Uncle and his family because he had to leave for work. Right from the start, Riyam knew that wasn’t her day.
Their trip to the stables was perfect — right until the laws of gravity remembered Riyam existed. Riyam slipped from the saddle and landed hard. A sharp pain shot through her ankle as her eyes filled with tears.
But Riyam refused to cry. Falling off the horse was embarrassing enough. Breaking down in front of everyone would have been even worse.
Uncle and his family hurried over, their faces filled with concern. Yet, Riyam’s physical pain was nothing compared to the burning embarrassment she felt. She did not want a bandage; she wanted the earth to split open and swallow her whole. How could she have fallen? The culprit, she thought bitterly, was Jade, her beloved horse, who stood nearby looking completely innocent.
Back home, Riyam was still upset. A quiet cloud followed her throughout the evening and right through dinner. Dad tried his best to comfort her, but nothing seemed to help. Finally, she could not hold it in any longer.
“I fell because you weren’t there with me, Dad,” she whispered, her frustration turning into tears. “I just felt so alone.”
She remembered the words her dad used to comfort her that night.
“Do you know that when a baby horse comes into the world, it follows its mother every second of its life? Wherever she goes, it follows. When she changes direction, it changes direction too. First, it learns to stand, then to walk. Gradually, it begins exploring the world, learning to socialise.
“For the first month of its life, its mother is its whole world. By the time it is three months old, it begins to realise that leaving its mother is not such a bad thing. That is how it starts making friends.
“Humans are quite similar. When babies are born, they need their parents every minute of the day. Parents do not hand their children to strangers. But when children are old enough to go to school, their parents let them go. Their parents are no longer their entire world. Children make friends, meet new people and slowly build lives of their own. They stop depending on their parents for everything.
“You will not find me by your side every minute of every day. I will not be here forever. But my love for you will always remain. You are fully capable of handling this world on your own. When you reach your biggest milestones, celebrate loudly, knowing I am cheering you on from the depths of my soul. When hard times come, trust your own strength to overcome them.
“You can solve your own problems. You can achieve your greatest milestones. Learn to trust your own strength. Learn to celebrate yourself. Learn to live without your Dad,” her father concluded gently.
Riyam smiled as the memory faded. She went to bed no longer thinking about the empty corner that would remain in the crowd the next day. She was ready to step into the ring, knowing her father would still be cheering her on.
Published in Dawn, Young World, July 25th, 2026
