I heard it before I heard it, '70s Seals & Crofts, one of my favorites of theirs.  It was only when I stepped out of the shower to towel off that I heard myself humming along to the radio.

Life, so they say, is but a game and we let it slip away.
Love, like the Autumn sun, should be dyin' but it's only just begun.
Like the twilight in the road up ahead, they don't see just where we're goin'.
And all the secrets in the Universe, whisper in our ears
And all the years will come and go, take us up, always up.


DSC_0119 For the better part of three days, I've lived with my family in our car and at a Hampton Inn in Times Square South.  We have never been closer, literally and figuratively.  

1,600 miles.

24 hours in a car.

Three days in New York City, packed to the overflow with people and places but not many things.  

Perfect.

Priceless.

Dreams, so they say, are for the fools and they let 'em drift away.
Peace, like the silent dove, should be flyin' but it's only just begun.
Like Columbus in the olden days, we must gather all our courage.
Sail our ships out on the open sea. Cast away our fears
And all the years will come and go, and take us up, always up.

You see, there's this countdown going on but for a few days I forget about it and defy Time.  We live fully and we live well and we live together.  Home now, I'm desperate wanting to write this trip on their hearts, ink it on their skin, chisel it into memory forever and always–theirs and mine.  Lord, help me remember the days and the details…it's prayer and demand and plea.  I wage war against my own forgetfulness; maybe that's why I take so many pictures.  They remember for me.

But we're home, and it is sweet, but we've already scattered. Time mocks.  

So, I wanna laugh while the laughin' is easy.
I wanna cry if it makes it worthwhile.

I drink in the bittersweet, this cup of life.  And though I wince at the bitter, I am thankful for it; doesn't it only give strength to the sweet?  What are shadows without sunshine?  

We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again.
We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again.

So I'm toweling dry and humming the familiar, a love song that speaks to me, I suppose, about a different kind of love story.  

And then the lyrics sink in.

"We may never pass this way again…."  The words are bricks crushing my heart and my eyes tear fill.  I sense time's fleet because I know we'll never pass this way again.

And just like that, I shake my head no, resolute, defiant.  We're minutes home from a wonderful family vacation; and, yes, my first born's departure for college is just days away.  

But isn't this Ecclesiastical?  There is a time.  

Seasons.  

Purposes.

Under heaven.

There IS a time….

So I turn…

and start humming the Byrds…. 🙂

 

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