Hope

A few months ago at around 6pm on a June evening, I heard a crash in my backyard. The trunk of a tree had cracked and fallen just over the fence from my neighbor's property onto mine. No storm, no wind, no warning; a giant maple was strewn across my lawn just like that.

Fortunately it hadn't fallen on my house, my dog, or on anyone outside. But was it some kind of warning? Were the gods trying to tell me something? And now I had a major mess to deal with just as I had finished sprucing up my yard for the summer. Who was going to clean it up? How much was it going to cost?

The following weekend my grandson came to sleep over. When he ran out back to play, he screamed "Grammy what happened?"

As I explained, his eye grew wider and wider. "Can I climb up there?" he grinned with glee.

For a few moments I hesitated. What I had viewed as a catastrophe (albeit minor) and a major nuisance, this child perceived as wonderful. The next morning he jumped out of bed, slipped on his sneakers and ran outside in his pajamas to play.

On this hallowed day, this image gives me some hope for the future. No matter what befalls us, what we must face in this life, the human spirit does prevail.