On a Sunday, we would pack ourselves up and climb into the car together. It was three of us who needed airing out. He'd drive. I'd take shot gun. She'd sit in the back. staring out the window. It was like a movie to her -- a visual feast, refueling for her eyes.He and I would talk relentlessly on our 3 or 4 hour drive. We would snack on our words as if they were treats of candy, as if the view through the windshield were a moving picture, and we were two kids who had no reason to give it our attention.
Her silence in the back seat, staring out the window was her rest for the week. It also was like a movie to her -- a visual feast, refueling for her eyes. Our noise and chatter let her know she wasn't alone. She had brought home along with her.
When we arrived in the destination town, we would go to the beach before the restaurant. Then it was my turn to find the space where I was one. I'd saunter out to the sand along the shore where the birds had been at sunrise. He and she would stay at streetside. I'd walk the sand, pushing my feet into it, feeling it give back to me.
And as I did I made tracks in the sand in between those that looked something like this ->-.
And I would think, It's okay to be a rare bird, leaving tracks in the sand.
--me strauss Letting me be
4 comments:
We all leave tracks -- in expected and unexpected places. Some folks like to walk in the tracks of others, and see if their stride matches, or maybe the imprint. As a child I would play that game; I'd try to walk in someone else's footprints on the beach or in the mud. I learned then that I didn't measure up and that it was always more satisfying to make my own tracks. I still like doing that the best. Maybe I'm a rare bird too. :)
Hi Dawn,
We do leave tracks. Sometimes the tracks we leave are in the minds and hearts of those we love. I've tried on my dad's shoes. I've played follow the leader, especially in the snow.
It would be sad to live a life having never left a trace or a track.
"It's okay to be a rare bird, ". I will remember that, Liz. :)
Ah, how I smile, right now, Dsnake to read your comment. I hope you always hear my voice saying that to you. A rare bird is valuable indeed.
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