WONDERING

She was wondering ….

At the playground she was wondering,

“Who is that mother over there - the one

with the cell phone?” She wondered

whom was she talking to - for these

ten, twenty, thirty minutes - at least.

Laughing. Lots of laughing.

The whole time she was pushing

her little girl on the park swing -

steady, steady - swinging

her little girl up high into the air -

towards the sky. Yet it seemed she

really was not  here in this tiny park

at the bottom of our street. It seemed

she was not seeing her daughter’s face -

who was tasting, feeling, eating the air -

as she went through space. Talk

about multi-tasking. All the while

her mom was still on the phone.

Then her mom took her to the slide

helped her to the top of the ladder -

picked her up at the bottom a

half dozen times - and let her slide

down again and again and again.

It seemed she was missing seeing

her daughter’s face on every ride

that she took her too. Surprise.

Then she realized that she too

was somewhere else. She was

watching the lady with the phone

and she missed ten, twenty, thirty,

looks and waves from her son on

swings and then the slide and then

in a duel with sticks with two other

little boys - over at the edge of the

tiny park. Then she wondered:

“Are we always somewhere else?

Are we all always wondering

about someone else’s somewhere

or someone else and miss those

swinging or sliding right in front of us?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012