Early November

You ever run across an old friend unexpectedly?

I don't mean some dude who was in your 7th grade class for half of the year. I mean a real friend. Maybe even an old lover. You know them well.

You are walking down the crowded corridor of an airport far from home, lost in thought. Making plans for your arrival. Struggling with your baggage. Trying to decide if it's worth it to pay six bucks for a cup of shitty coffee in a thin cup that is going to scald you for at least the first 15 minutes. Thinking you could really use a shower. Wondering if you'll be stuck next to some wacko for nine hours who won't shut up or if an overweight narcoleptic will turn your prized window seat into a prison.

All of a sudden, you see a face. The eyes, the smile reminds you of something and sure enough it comes to you slowly at first and then suddenly and inescapably and it almost takes your breath away. It's THEM. The old familiar, the comfortable. The late nights, the sunrise cigarettes. You run together, embrace, smell them, feel them, remember them, laugh, try to play it cool. Hundreds of people disappear altogether. The building, the airplanes, the smells of greasy food and old vinyl upholstery all has vanished without a trace.

After a few minutes of this intoxicating stupor, you both come to your senses and realize that there is nothing you can do about the fact that you must go different directions, and you part ways and for a while at least, you sit looking out into the distance remembering everything they mean to you and how grateful you are in the bottom of your soul for having run into them.

This morning at church some kids performed a beautiful version of "Hallelujah", for which I was not prepared.