"Life is a path lit only by the light of those I love." Johnny Cash said that. Thirteen words that in a moment send my mind a wander with thoughts of places, faces, times and spaces. With this flash of thought I often hopscotch back down my life's path to moments when everything seemed in it's right place.
I was sitting in a group of three, one taller the other broader, and we all of sound mind, body, and soul. There at the base of Al's Run the skies were dark and the sun was hidden, and that was a good thing. Because that meant the snow was falling. It had been falling all day, and maybe even the night before. And with all the hope earnest young men have to hope with, we hoped it would snow through the night. Because, it hadn't snowed like this all season, and we were smiling. There had been multiple reasons to stop out of college in the fall of 1999, but this was the real reason, the only one we needed.
There was a night when we sat on the floor of my bedroom and talked. We talked about what had happened and the empty feelings inside. We talked about how the drinking didn't fill mine and the dreaming made her's hurt only more. When the talk was about what once was, the empty place felt full again. On a piece of paper we wrote down what we held in these spaces. There was the pair of sandals with the mud, rain, and blades of grass that remained from dancing on the lawn. The love letters written and left upon a pillow, in a shoe, the text book by the bed. I held the paper, with flowers dried and pressed, upon which she wrote ovations, declarations, exclamations of desire. The cigarette lighter she gave as a reminder of her distaste for my habits, and her support of my soul. The cork from the bottle of wine we shared the first night we had sex. All these things and others laid out before us. We hurt bad that time and that was the sweetest thing we shared. A peaceful grieving of something as it passes.
:*******)
Colin, there is positively nothing under the sun that you could have given me today (not even Dylan tickets!) that I could love.... more than this.
Posted by: Ccarolr | Monday, January 10, 2011 at 05:07 PM
A year ago, you sent this to me, for my birthday. I do appreciate it. I appreciate all you did for me, once upon that sweet time.
Posted by: Ccarolr | Monday, January 09, 2012 at 11:34 PM