The Alchemy of Becoming You
Permanence and arrival are only mirages
I was sandwiched between my two younger brothers in the backseat of the family car, driving on a barren North Dakota highway in the summertime. I recall us fighting about who was touching whom, or some such thing siblings fight about.
Probably to distract us, my dad said, “Hey, kids, do you see that puddle of water on the road ahead?”
We peered out the windshield. There was, clear as day, a puddle of water up ahead. It seemed to stretch across both lanes, with no easy path to navigate around it.
“What are we going to do when we get there?” we asked. “Will we have to drive in the ditch?”
My dad replied, “We’ll have to wait and find out!”
So we stared at that mirage on the road, holding our breath, waiting to catch up to it. Yet, no matter how long we drove, or how far we traveled, the puddle kept moving further and further down the road.
We never arrived.
I am now in my 6th decade of life on this planet. My husband and I are empty-nesters. Our two daughters are out in the world, becoming their own people, although sometimes they come home and it feels like nothing has changed. Other times, it feels like they have been gone for years and years, and the pictures lining our hallway…
