Walking Ahead - Hand in Heart

One day he’s grabbing my hand as we gingerly dodge the cars in the Target parking lot. I didn’t realize how quickly it would change.

The days are long and the years are short, “they” say.

#Cliche...#Truth. 

He  now walks ahead - just a few steps away - navigating his campus, his familiar landscape.  I’m the visitor following him into his world.  I fumble with my rosary bracelet - my mother’s hand to hold.

These midlife years seem to unbalance my motherly equilibrium. 

“Take me back to 4,” I’ve been known to say…that magical age when deep delight and wonder dance in their eyes and sweeten every conversation. 

But the wonder and delight is still there. It just may be hibernating - quieter - shape shifting.

When he greets friends he hasn’t seen since break, the dimples that used to look up at me still dance across his cheeks. When he shares a sunset photo he took, the days of nature walks and night sky watches flicker in my mind’s eye. When he agrees to meet me for one last goodbye hug, I remember the butterfly gardens we watched so closely.  They transformed - under a chrysalis cloak - and then we let them fly. 

And so we do…and so we do.