elders

I feel their smiles press upon us as we pass, their sunglassed faces turning down to see my son lounge in his stroller, dangling his feet over the front bar as he babbles to the waves, a morning song to greet the dawn. We are all beach-roaming as the sun sneaks up, some strolling at a snail's pace, others leaping by like nimble deer. But everybody slows to smile at him. I try to read their faces in the fleeting instant as we pass, white-haired women gripping their husband's arms for steady footing in the sand, wrinkled men with the deep tans of seasoned snowbirds. They see my baby first - I am only his plodding handler at the helm - and he squints into the sun with sparkling grin for everyone that passes: bikers, joggers, walkers, wanderers. I wonder what they see when they smile at him. Distant memories of their own once-mop-topped toddlers? Heartpangs for far-off grandbabies? A long-gone longing for children they never had? Amused annoyance at the awkward stroller that blocks … [Read more...] about there & back again: one morning’s walk