Between Mary Mac and Dundee

I don't know why this morning was any different, why I felt it was important to get out there, drive, see if I could see you. It was just another weekday, just another soft, late summer morning. The cat needed to come in and, well, after he padded around awhile he settled in next to me. No incentive to get up with that kind of action going on, but I did. Figured I needed to try out eight o'clock, too.


The crowd out and about in the Woods at eight is a different one than the ones I've been finding at ten or later in the morning. I never seem to hit your district until after coffee, but this morning the boulevard was teeming with walkers, folks on their way to work, delivery men, contractors. It made for a fairly inconspicuous drive. Pretty morning, made it easy to do the full tour. Parked awhile, thought I'd wait to see if you would cross my path but thought better of it. Coffee called.


I have to think of the last time I saw you, the dismissive wave, the hard walk you took, the long drive I made afterwards. I think of when I came up on you, there between Dundee and Mary Mac, and how, within minutes of seeing you, you were gone. It's feels like forever since that morning. It somehow makes me wonder if that's the way we'll go out, if that's when we'll say we saw each other last.


Or not. We talked on the phone once, sure. We crossed paths, sort of, when you tore my signs down, yes. And maybe, just maybe, you've stumbled upon my words to you here or at the Accumulate Man site. I don't know. But what I do know is that life is short and paths, the older you get, get more tangled up they get. I think of all the people that I have seen again that I never expected in my wildest dreams to see and so that tells me that you and I will see each other again.

As our friend Friar Tuck made it clear to me in a letter the other day, our story is not finished. She felt there were too many loose ends, something like that. Somehow I believe her, and that's why I got up before my coffee water boiled this morning to see if I could see you. Walking, driving, whatever. Just to say that this morning, on the eve of our most favorite day, that I saw your face. Even that little thing would have gladdened my heart in a way that it hasn't been in a long, long time.


Your WHMB