Luke

I truly believe that the universe takes care of us, that goodness is infinite and whatever higher power we choose to believe in has a beautiful plan for each of us.  To foster our life's purpose and to touch as many lives as possible.  At least, I think so.  After my last post, a friend of mine and I were talking about how love in an instant is possible and while it is more often than not, fleeting, still carries weight and further proves that it isn't the length of time that a person is in your life that matters, it's the mark they leave on you.  Some can change the whole of your insides, some change your perspective and some awaken you to what you weren't able to see before.

At a time when I was blown wide open, in extreme pain and trying desperately to ease it anyway I could, one such human-being appeared.  I was in Hubbards with my family and friends, on my way back to the cabin after kicking up my heels at the Shore Club.  We were walking the same path, both figuratively and literally.  Somehow we ended up strolling together, engaging in meaningless small talk.  Enjoying the coy exchange, we then parked our weary selves on a big boulder by the beach and talked deep into the night.  Either of us was really in a position to offer much else but the timing was perfect for both of us to have an ear to bend, a shoulder to cry on and someone to laugh deep belly laughs with.  It was soul-satisfying.  Just to feel noticed, just to be heard and be in genuine company with someone who wanted to be beside you and not away from you.  He mirrored the same anecdote.

It was foggy and cool that night.  We both started to catch a chill, it was time to go.  He walked me back to my cabin but not without being a bit of a boy.  He was the kindest man I'd ever met; rapt, munificent and mirthful.  I had never been regarded with such tenderness.  We parted ways and that was the end of it.  I will always be grateful for that little bit of time I shared with him.  It was the best first and only date ever.  He has no idea how altered I became from our encounter.  How fulfilling it was and how much it was needed.  In my opinion, that's what a real man is made of.  I've yet to meet another like him.  I hope wherever he is in the world, he's happy and bestowing that Lion Heart on a deserving partner.  For a brief moment in time, he was my hero.

It happened just like this.  A snippet for you:

Snapshot From a Chance Meeting

Luke took my hand and together we climbed the steep craggy ocean wall from our stoop. He said,

'Let's break into that cabin over there and make out!' nodding toward the dark, ominous structure.

Piquant humour, I mused to myself, I like that in a man. Our midnight conversation shifted from elegiac to that of amusement.

'Absolutely not! That's how horror movies start.' I protested. All things considered, taking risks at this juncture wasn't in my best interest.

He threw his head back and laughed, squeezed my hand. Still chuckling, he whispered,

'Also how love stories begin.'  Luke had a tender, broken spirit. We matched.  For too brief a moment in time, we were meant for each other.

We were a mere whisper in a much greater cacophony. Two fractured hearts in transit, high on the smells of summer and imbued by the trials of loss and longing. His story written in boldfaced cuneiform, mine in italicized Times New Roman. There was nothing injurious about the person sitting next to me beside the water's edge, exchanging war stories and innocent words about life, love and the Great Canadian Dream under a lazy moon engulfed by fog.  It was a chance meeting, irreverent, erotic, and contented set against a subtle sea-side landscape; all through synchronized dialogue.  The time spent was all heart-song, every ounce sincere.

Our blurry silhouettes, spent from sharing our secrets under invisible stars, embraced and parted ways just before sun-up. He held me a second longer than he needed to. His arms were strong and comforting, a fortress. I savored in it, breathed it in. The kindest man I'd ever known.

Letting go, he smiled at me and tipped my nose with his finger, 'I'm glad I met you tonight. Thank you for all that back there.'

I returned the smile and blushed a little in his stare. 'Me too. It was lovely.'

With that, he slowly turned and started to walk away. At the same time, we both turned to look back at each other. We laughed. And then he was gone, into the wild but always in my heart.

***

While this moment is deeply personal (as is the subject of some of the best art in the world), it was such a charming twinkling of time that it deserves to be committed to the page (it started as a poem and ended up being a sliver of prose).  Also serves as a welcome reminder when I need it that there is enough love out there for all of us but sometimes it comes in small suites, as a surprise, when you least expect it.  It is moments such as these are worth living for, make the darkest days a little less lonely and keeps one buoyed in the notion that anything is possible and that goodness, in people and in the world, in the end, always prevails.

 In propinquity,

Nic