Thanksgiving

A bright blue sky, a cool fall day, sitting in the sun, waiting.

Joe is in the line up waiting to do banking. I take the opportunity to go outside and sit in the sun. I find a place where I can tuck myself away. Fall is my favourite season. I love the sun in fall. I love the sensation created by cool air and warm sun. People are smiling. They are rushing like usual for this time of day, but, they are smiling.

I notice a man I've seen often over the five years we've lived here. Today he walks with a walker. Slow determined steps. When I first saw him, he used a cane. But as the years have passed, he moved from cane to crutches, from crutches to walker, from walker to chair. Now he moves either with walker or chair.

He's maybe thirty five. I don't know how he comes to disability, but I knew when I first saw him, that the experience was new. His clothes tell me that he has both money and taste. He is lean, just shy of tall, and has a face with strong features which seem to reflect a strenght within. A man to be reckoned with. He is passing in front of me. I nod. He nods. The recognition is new. Maybe a month ago, he returned my nod for the first time. I don't know why, but I felt honoured that he did. There's something about the way he carries himself that makes me want his respect.

A few feet past me he stops. Slowly he turns his walker around. He sits down, tired. I don't speak to him. I am enjoying the cool, the warm and the quiet. He is too. I notice him again when I notice a woman, beautiful, stopped and looking at him. She was about his age. I slide on her gaze over to him. He is sitting, his head tilted slightly towards the sun, his eyes are closed. He is basking in the sun. There is a slight smile on his face that tells me that he is also basking in the moment. He, simply, looks happy.

She stands there. Unaware that people are swirling around her. Some glare at her for being in their way. But she doesn't move. She simply looks at him. Her hand slips into her purse and takes out a tissue and dabs her eyes. They glisten in the sun. She brightens her smile and moves towards him. He opens his eyes only when her lips touch his.

He see her. Embraces her. Stands. Takes his walker. She takes his arm. They walk on.

I do not know what long journey brought him to be there. Sitting on his walker, waiting in the sun. I wonder though if he knew, whenever he was told that his life was going to change, that he'd have days like these. I wonder if in fear and in dread of an unknown future he wished away having a future. I wonder if he could imagine a day, where he would wait, peacefully, in the sun, for the woman who loved him.

I love the sun in fall.

On a Thanksgiving weekend.