Pause

Yesterday was a hustle and bustle kinda day.  From dawn til the wee hours of the next day (today) I was out and on the run. I went to morning prayer, visited my high school on its last day, tried to study but ended up making signs for the garage sale this Saturday, worked (only one hour so not too bad), prepped some more (pricing all items) and then saw a friend off to her summer internship in Indonesia. My mind was on everything at once and one step ahead.
On my way home in between errands I stopped at the intersection to make a right. I was two minutes from home and seven from my next destination. Except. This old couple didn’t seem to realize that. They crossed the street from the other side and I felt this stuffiness rise from within as I watched the old lady carry her umbrella and take one shaky step… after the other. The old man saw me waiting and he crossed pretty quickly. Good, at least one person recognized a busy person when he saw one hahah.
I sat there helpless and in those nine seconds, the world slowed down and I had a moment to myself. I became aware of my heart and the goodness of everything and I could breathe again. I hadn’t realized how tightly wound I was. It was a wake-up-and-smell-the-roses moment. And it smelled good, my friend. The sun was warm and so bright, the sky was beautiful. It was quite liberating to realize that no, the world didn’t and doesn’t revolve around me (gasp) and everything’s gonna be okay, even without my worrying and efforts.
What a beautiful nine seconds. And that lady has no idea what her ailing body had done for me. Haha. I appreciated so much that she wasn’t compelled by me to move faster (she probably couldn’t anyway haha). It released me from the heaviness that comes with responsibilities and self-importance.
She fi… nally cros… sed, her tired feet reaching a little higher than normal for the curb. I waited until she had completely lifted herself to the sidewalk before gently lifting my foot off the brake. I rolled forward and rather than continue my way, I continued with a new sense of fullness and nearness of the one whose glory fills the earth, literally. And when anyone operates in that sort of freedom, life isn’t work. And work isn’t work. Haha.
Thanks, old lady. You created the most important moment of that day.
Happy Saturday.