Sometimes they’re in a hurry and you just drop them at the curb. You leave your hazards on and you pull their suitcase out of the trunk and you hug them and they tell you what a great time they had, how good it was to see you. You know they have to go. Their plane is leaving. They can’t stay any longer.
Sometimes they let you park and come inside with them. You watch them check-in and promise they’re not carrying contraband. You watch them check their bags and you say meaningless things like “Wow, $25 for that little duffel bag…” and “How long is your lay-over in Atlanta? Oh, nice and short then.” You make it as far as security. You need a ticket go on but you don’t have one. Because this is their flight. Not yours.
They shrug and say, “I guess this is it.”
And you say, “Yeah, don’t forget to take off your shoes.”
They head for the back of the line and you call out their name. Just one more hug, one more kiss, one more “I wish we had more time.: One more goodbye.
You’re only prolonging it now but you stand at the top of the stairs and watch their progress through security. You see the wand waving and you see them step through that last metal doorway.
You can’t even see them now but you walk to the impossibly large windows now and stare out, trying to decide which plane is taking them away from you. Eventually, you watch one taxiing down the runway, farther and farther away, faster and faster it goes, until it’s up, up in the air taking someone away from someone else and it just seems so unbelievably unfair.
But it would be selfish, wouldn’t it, to want to keep those planes on the ground forever? It would be selfish to keep those passengers from reaching their destinations.
Today I’m feeling a little selfish and a little sad.
love, elizabeth
PS: I apologize for my absence from blog-land for the past few days. I have been reading your blogs and trying to comment (my log-in wasn’t working). I think things are fixed now and I should be back to regular posting and reading, too. Hope everyone is having a restful weekend!
Are you some sort of a psychic? We've just experienced a death over here. And it's like you knew I needed to read this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great analogy Elizabeth...Sometimes we just don't want to let go...hope your weekend went well:-)
ReplyDeleteThis was really thought provoking....I've experienced a lot of death in my lifetime thus far and I liked this analogy.
ReplyDeleteThis was very powerful. I hope everything is okay. Death can be such a challenge for us all.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great way to describe death. And I know exactly what you mean. ):
ReplyDelete:( Too true and too sad. I'm feeling selfish for you...love you and call if you want to talk.
ReplyDelete