It fell from grace. Odds are pretty good, however, that wasn’t her name. You know, the girl from whom this heart fell. “Is she missing it?” A great question … while also asking myself if it would be appropriate to stop time, just for a few seconds, and capture the moment in my phone’s camera. Truly a heart lost. One of a pair. Definitely worth framing for the cause of love everywhere – if only for a brief moment in time.
A heart left behind. Where is Grace?
She isn’t around. Most likely, I will not meet her. I do have a small part of her life with me now, though. A simple earring. A symbol of who she is – not what she is. Love means something to her .. just enough to once hang two identical silvery, brilliant hearts on her ears. Not expensive, Dior “look at me” ones. Simple, paper-thin, inexpensive symbols of love. The front side shown is brilliant when light reflects, and the backside, in contrast, a matted gray. Both sides showing her willingness to be different depending upon how the wind blows across her face.
With all the inner and outer beauty, love remains alone. I have in hand only one of a pair. Grace possibly staring at another as her tears rhythmically fall on the other in her hand after realizing the loss. She knows nothing of me, yet I know something of her. A little glimpse, granted, but something.
I know she has one heart missing a lover’s soulful song being sung from the chambers of another. Aware of endless vibrations in the breeze going outward upon gentle winds, I appreciate the silence. The only undisclosed affirmation is the destination of these gestures of fate. Will sounds fade into silence, or will Grace hear a ping in her heart as it jumps every so faintly to the air of love?
She knows nothing of me. I write knowing this. Expectations being as they are, there will be no Cinderella story ending here. My hopes do not rest upon a single knee proposal in a fairy tale of endless lifetimes. I found one of a pair resting peacefully on the ground. It was not a priceless glass slipper in the hands of a handsome prince, but an inexpensive heart earring. Yes, still one of a pair. Yes, a story of love, … of a different design.
Isn’t that how love works? A first glimpse into a new world of little, shiny, unexpected “wows” catching our attention leading us forward to unimaginable beauty … helping us with who we are, not what we are. Unforeseen are those small, take your breath away moments changing who you are inside; Unexpectedly bumping into that scent of emotion on a path of overwhelming euphoria leading into clouds of rhapsodic joy and destinations immortal. This is the design of love …
…. And it is designed for us. The silent sound from a single heart, alone, on a sidewalk moves toward grace looking for love. This is the design of love and it is in these times we see grace in us. Grace echoes back. The air returns, placing a small, shiny heart back on dull gray pavement where I questioned if it was appropriate to stop time. Yes, very.
All of these: close friendships, music robustly dancing off any instrument, laughter as I read a texts, memories by my mom’s bedside during her final hours, cold tuna casseroles, finished crossword puzzles, texas hold ’em winning hands, … all of these little shiny heart moments presumably headed toward grace, but echoed back as one glittering reminder. Your innumerable, abundant blessings as well circling back for you to find, unexpectedly, on a path under your feet.
I see a heart in me. You see a loving, kind, generous person reading this. You stood by me as I cautiously bent over to flick up a small, warm, fragile friend lying on the impersonal, compact stones. Together, we lifted her up and gifted this angel with a song to dance on the air for eternity. It is, simply. who we are as one, together, of a pair.
And I ask again, “Where is Grace?” …
She’s been here all along.
DougHugs 