Graduation

He smiles graciously as he accepts the white envelopes filled with the currency of wisdom.  He is now a man child, stepping eagerly into his future, ready to leave it all behind for the promise. Freedom in a city that speaks of revolution and American history he readily walks out of and into.  And yet his history stays behind; Mother and Father and sister, each quiet with their own thoughts, each wondering what their future brings. A bittersweet moment, filled with tears of  gratitude washed away with tears of sorrow.

We've done our job they think. Raised him, protected him, fed him and loved him.  Now we turn the reins over to the man child wishing for a moment that the man was only a child.

How Old Are You?

Age settles on her like a cloak of fine silk, unnoticed and smooth.  She is aware of its presence in subtle ways; a line, a spot and in the lingering absence of the one gone before.  Years have past as the water of her life rushes over the falls collecting speed with each passing year and like some invisible dam she tries to hold back the reality of the numbers that continually creep up towards decades of experience. There is no weight to the age she carries but rather a gentle comfort and silent acceptance of the quiet imposed by a life worn well.