Old Friends

I arrive at the meeting spot early so I might have a little time to myself under the big-cone pines.  I'm sipping my coffee and there are people scurrying about with headlamps on.  They're looking for friends in the dark, stepping carefully, calling out in whispers and listening for familiar responses.  There are more dogs than usual and they don't mind the cold morning but are eager to be let from their leashes.  They are also looking for their friends and the meeting of a cattle-dog and a husky mix causes me to laugh a little.  They run toward each other jumping and circling and cooing just as old friends who have a lot to catch up on.

I am also waiting for an old friend but I choose to sit on the wall where I am sure to be found and watch the day begin.  Sure enough, Sharon arrives and greets me with a soft voice just as the morning comes into focus.  Its a cool, yellow sky of October and it holds us still for a moment.  It seems there is a lot of ground to cover but we loiter in the gentle quiet of the early hour.  I have the feeling of having been gone a long time but also of having traveled very far.  Although I've been here countless times, today everything is new as every day now starts somewhere else and finishes with something unfamiliar.  In between the beginning and the end are sights and sounds I have yet to fully embrace.  Sharon and I are back on the trail of our beginnings.  The trail where we met some fifteen years ago.