I was walking across the parking lot at the grocery store the other afternoon when, above the hustle and bustle of the busy street that lay behind me...above the noise of the shoppers walking to and fro the store in front of me, suddenly I heard the small voice of a child saying my name over and over! I looked toward the store in front of me and saw nothing. I looked toward the street behind me and saw nothing, I looked to my left and still NOTHING!
For a second I thought that perhaps I had only imagined I had heard a childs voice calling out to me, but when I looked to my right I saw it. Across the street, in the playground area of the elementary school, were what looked to be at least a hundred kids enjoying recess, and right in the midst of all those children I saw an arm lifted toward the sky. The hand that was attached to the arm was waving frantically and it was then that I realized the voice that was saying my name belonged to none other than my 9-year-old niece, Chrissy. My first thought was, "My, what great eye sight you have!" My second thought was, "My, what a great set of lungs you have!" Better to love me with, I decided, as I held up both my arms and frantically waved back to her just like she was waving to me. I smiled as I turned to walk toward the store, wiping away a couple of tears as I went inside.
Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese once wrote, "We do not remember days, we remember moments. This was one of those moments. Unexpected but pleasurable.
Thanks for the 'shout out,' Chrissy!
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