Wednesday, February 22, 2017
This afternoon, as I was leaving my apartment building, I saw a little boy, maybe four or five years old, with the viewfinder of a beat up digital camera held to his eye. He was alone at the base of our front stairs. I surprised him when I walked out the door. He stepped to the side, where I then saw his mother. She told me he liked my stairs. I told him to go right ahead and enjoy them, then I looked back at them myself. I’d never really paid much attention to them before. They are mostly terracotta tiles, with what appear to be hand-painted tiles showing on a stair face every so often. They’re a bit beat up, but still in fairly good shape for a building standing since the 1920s. It had been kind of a melancholy day up to this point, but this observant little boy changed my view. I know he helped me find this cloud. He might have also made the sun feel warmer, the air more brisk, and even had something to do with my climbing up and down this city's hills at a quicker clip than usual. Thanks, little guy, wherever you are. I hope when you are a man you are able to look back at those photos of our stairs and remember what today felt like.
Lovely!
ReplyDeleteNancy! Thank you. I've missed you. Still writing?
DeleteHi Denise! Writing, yes--but not on my blog. In about 2 weeks, we will (at last) be moving into our home. I feel like I will be in the right place, mentally, emotionally, to put my attention there again. I've missed all the connections.
DeleteSuch great news!
DeleteSeeing our normality through fresh eyes is so valuable. Love to think of him out there, your stairs - yourself - stored someone in his memory.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteThis is WONDERFUL!!
ReplyDeleteOne of the many joys I experienced when working with young children... seeing the world through their eyes. Lovely post❣
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to see a fresh perspective.
DeleteIt's for this very reason that the return home is the sweetest point in a vacation.
ReplyDeleteSeeing your life in a new way after new experiences?
DeleteI love the blueness of the sky you took.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It was an especially appealing blue at that moment.
DeleteA lovely way to turn someone's day around! Somehow a magical little story to read.
ReplyDeleteIt felt magical.
DeleteSuch a great story.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteI can't even fully explain how much I love this post. It says so much, so succinctly. The power of observance, of looking anew, of changing a day, of taking our cue from the small ones. I'm positive that reading this has just changed my day. Thank you so much. xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rebecca!
DeleteI love this. And I'm glad I read it today when it seems like I've been in another fog (literally since I've been sick but also figuratively as well)... It made me walk out on the porch and look up at the sky and take notice of something that wasn't my computer screen. Funny that it took a 4 year old to do that for us...and yet also so very appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThere are many good things we learn from experience as we grow older, but there are also things we knew very early on that we should try not to forget, like the power of simply looking up at the sky. : )
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