LOOKING UP THIS TIME OF YEAR
"We shake our fists at a God who makes us attend funerals for the people who made us feel like the only
thing spinning in their orbit. And then we move on. Because there’s really nothing more we can do but go on living like time would be up for us too some day."
The tune flooded into my earbuds and I slowed my pace from a run to a walk.
A slow walk, I was collecting my breath as the sounds of Judy Garland played in my ears. She started to sing, “Have yourself a merry
little Christmas. Let your heart be light.”
The sun was setting. It was falling beneath a hill. Two silhouettes tumbled over the hill ahead. I would never have noticed them if I hadn’t slowed down enough to walk and look around. It was a guy and girl. He was sitting in a motorized wheelchair and she was sitting in his lap. A fleece blanket was wrapped around her and that guy was holding her so tightly as if telling the world, “I know
what I have and I am holding it tightly.”
The two barreled down the hill. They were laughing wildly and I couldn’t hear the words coming out from their mouths. As I walked past them, they both looked at me. They paused their laughter and looked at me in the eyes– as if they were both saying, “Come into our moment. There is room for you, too.”
The girl was grinning ear-to-ear
and I bet she had her father’s smile. The guy’s mouth was agape. He was missing two front teeth and the rest of them were gold. Together, they went on laughing and rolling down the hill in their motorized wheelchair.
I watched them go on their way as the words continued to play in my ears, “from now on, our troubles will be miles away…”
I thought about the two of them the
whole way home.
Do we know a perfect moment when we have it in our hands...READ MORE
