Saturday, July 3, 2021

A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell So Sweet


She sent me a text that she was sitting at the pond and looking at the sunset. She captivated my heart. She had been a person that I've noticed for some time. Something about her eyes, her smile, the way she somehow faced the shadows of life. I had wanted to talk to her for some two years. I could never find the courage.

But this night was different. What was the chance that I could meet her at that pond? It was about a half a mile from where I lived and my dog, Dinah, needed a walk. I looked toward the sky, it was bright with a little darkness on the horizon. Well, caution to the wind, this probably won't work, but just maybe. Just maybe... fate will intervene. God, I need a break.

Dinah and I walked quickly and she was enjoying the adventure. We crossed Main and cut through the hospital. We crossed Smokey Row and made our way down the paved trail past where I used to walk when I was the Manger of the Home and Community Based Team of Aspire Indiana. On tough days I’d walk that trail and go sit by that pond... contemplating my life and seeing nothing much good.

And here I am walking that same trail... chasing a fairy tale. A girl. A girl who maybe noticed me. Who sent me a picture of her beautiful sunset. Maybe I could find that girl. She made me feel things in my heart that have been dead. Like smiles. Like hope. Like... light and life.

And so I took a chance. I took a walk. 

I had been on the trail for about 10 minutes and I stepped out onto the clearing and I looked... there she was. She was still there. My breath caught in my throat as our eyes locked.  

She had seen me immediately and texted me. I think her words were, “You didn’t! I hate you!” I told her that I was coming her way but she had time to leave before I got there. 

But she stayed.

Minutes later when the trail led me to her bench... she was still there. She allowed me to sit beside her and music played from her phone. It was a list of songs that we'd shared over the past few days. My heart absolutely melted. This soul sees me. Her smile arrests me. Her eyes stop my breath.

I am here. She is here. At the pond. At the sunset. Yes, the world stood still.  And it hasn't moved yet. I still somehow stand in that moment forever as I snap that picture of her, and that pause is absolutely a torrent of life.

You don't know her. But right now, she has my full attention.

And she smells so sweet.


Epilogue


We embraced with a snuggles hug, holding onto the moment. Everything paused for moment, the world was right. And and as if on cue, the rain began to fall in sheets. We laughed as we were immediately soaked. We sloshed  hand in hand down the trail together. The rain drenched us like a sweet baptism from above.

The moment felt somehow perfect and magic. It had a evermore, timeless sort of feeling. Foreswear it, but what rain so softly breaks, a chance taken, an early summer night’s dream?