Today was an astonishingly beautiful day, the sort that makes up for the summer days of blistering desert heat.
It was an especially nice day because I was able to share it with a friend I haven’t seen in over a year. There’s been too many traumas for both of us, which shouldn’t surprise me since trauma was always something we had in common. We met at a grief group at the absolutely worst times of our lives. I still remember the look on this woman’s face the first time I saw her — absolutely disbelieving, eyes wide with indescribable pain, clutching the arm of a friend as if afraid grief would swallow her.
Well, grief didn’t swallow either of us. And today, the sparkle in her eyes along with her easy smile was, I am sure, matched by my own.
And the day smiled at both of us.
We walked twice around “our” lake, the place we’ve most often gotten together, and afterward promised each other we’d do it again.
It might even be so.
***
Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Unfinished, Madame ZeeZee’s Nightmare, Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
November 21, 2017 at 4:46 pm
Simply Fabulous pictures! 🙂
November 21, 2017 at 5:00 pm
I’m glad you had such a good day. It’s important to have those, because they make the harder times in life easier to bear. I went to the ballet recently, and it was a great experience, helping to relieve a stressful week with music, dance, and beauty. Plus we had great seats, and it was Swan Lake, so we had an excellent view of one of the greatest ballets ever created.
November 21, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Beautiful. Autumn is a lovely season, pity is we don’t get that where i live in Austalia
November 21, 2017 at 7:35 pm
Actually, there is really no fall here in the desert except for cooler temperatures. The photos were taken at a park that is by no means typical of the area.