subtext
July 21, 2015 § 2 Comments
My diary of our most recent decision to move is, on the surface, no more than a series of journal entries on our daily progress; the emotions and choices that mark this milestone. Underneath the unexceptional is an extraordinary experience; a subtext that informs a greater appreciation for the accidents of fate that gift us remarkable opportunities to be present in moments of distraction.
Each day there has been a happy surprise. I’ve noted the generosity of so many kind souls, but today I am thinking of the serendipitous alignment of strangers.
Last night things slowly started to derail. The lengthy list of last-minute projects wasn’t progressing in accordance with the hour and our paint supplies were running bare. It was bad luck at the worst time, but something manageable that could be addressed with a specific effort and so I ran to the hardware store moments before it closed.
It was this task that aligned my path with summer friends from a time long passed, late afternoons at the neighborhood park district pool when the crowds had dispersed and the water had turned cool. They were a memory of a year made permanent in a single photograph, but strangers to the season of different schools.
Yesterday, scanning unfamiliar aisles for my husband’s last-minute request, I was thinking only of what must be done when I saw a face more familiar for the heat of the day and the time of the year. Our summer friends. We gathered casually, disrupting the traffic of hurried shoppers and remembered out loud what we had forgotten while filling in the gaps between our last hello.
I told them about our impending move and they told me about their daughter’s illness, everything and nothing in between. It was as if we had never lost the time between pool days, the ease of old conversations and shared smiles. But everything is different. Their little girl is ill and I cannot dwell on the inconvenience of an impractical timeline for house projects.
Coming home from the store it was clear there was nothing my last-minute errand would fix; our house could not ready herself in time for this day.
Today is a new day and this summer is greater than one decision, it is a season of friendship and chance that invites a greater appreciation for stolen moments and borrowed perspectives. It is a day to rest, replenish, and redirect.
scribblechic 
Amazing how when we make a change and follow our gut, kismet occurs.
A small shift of our axis and the stars align a little clearer in the same sky.