I witnessed a beautiful brief moment today.
Right in front of the place where I work
is a busy seafood restaurant,
where special occasions are often celebrated
and the joy is so loud it sneaks across the street into our ears.
The wait outside is always long
(an experience worth waiting for)
I happened to look up as two strangers,
their faces completely hidden by shadows from the street lamps,
ran all the way from our parking lot to the line stretching far beyond the entrance,
clamoring over the cracks in the sidewalk,
just to hug one another after what you could tell to them felt like forever.
It struck me so that I felt it in my chest;
A pull towards their magnetic moment.
Simple bliss and nothing more.
Content, even.
I can’t help but wonder
if I have been that shadow faced stranger to another.
If anyone has ever witnessed me have one of those brief outbursts
of excitement, love, or happiness
that are so overwhelming you forget about the world around you
It falls away.
I hope I have.
Because that will mean that somewhere,
someone might happen to be paying attention, and be content too.
They did say to stop and smell the roses —
The scent is sweeter than I remembered.