Sweet now

Emily is doing that gifts-in-the-midst-of-the-messy thing again and those little girls in the picture were part of my gift the other day.  It was at McDonalds.  One of those gas-station McDonalds.  At the outside play place surrounded by a concrete parking lot with gas pumps at a terrifically busy intersection with cars constantly lined up at the light or driving sixty thru it.  Not a likely place for a gift.

I’m standing by the little metal picnic table watching the girls climb and slide and shout “Hey Poppy!”  The sun is behind the play place equipment so I’m in the shade and even though it’s the apex of summer, there’s a pleasant breeze and the humidity is low. 

And with no warning time stands still.  All that matters is this moment.  And this moment lasts for about forty-five minutes.  I don’t think about undone stuff or the future or what I’ll do when I get home or what happened earlier in the day.  I don’t feel like making any phone calls or reading or planning.  Or thinking – and that never happens; I have to always be thinking.  But I’m not, I’m just…there. 

It’s like some kind of fairy dust drifts onto that corner of earth and everything stops for awhile.  Even though all the busyness of rush-hour is going on around me, it doesn’t touch me  Nothing is touching me but now.

I remember a song I used to like many years ago, which if you watch should tell you what kind of shape I was in back then.  It’s one of the most painful things you’ll ever experience (you’ve been warned), but those hippies were onto something:

This moment is different than any before it
This moment is different, it’s now

Unfortunately, this moment you wish would end:

Comments

[Rebekah]

Oh, my poor ears. ;D

[Erin]

great posts. I love moments like these. The beauty of them is that they DO sneak up on you.

[Erin]

great lyrics, but wow, that song is bad. Hehehe.

[Erin]

Sometimes I wish I could have been a hippie. Bahahaha.