We are all just walking each other home

The sun was a gigantic circle of intense bright light as I walked on Old Plantersville Road tonight and the colors in the sky surrounding it took my breath away.  They were all that – and then some.  No camera this evening.  Just me and the Texas sunset.  It’s as close as I came to a spiritual moment and not surprising that the words of a hymn I sang over and over again during my Southern Baptist days played in my head while I walked.

Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh.

Shadows of the evening steal across the sky.

Jesus, give the weary calm and sweet repose;

With thy tenderest blessing may mine eyelids close.

—-Sabine Baring-Gould, published 1865

A few raindrops fell on me as I turned toward home from the railroad track which was my usual turnaround spot.  I didn’t even care.  The colors changed quickly in the sky as the sun went down behind the trees across the pasture.  I slowed my pace to catch as many of them as I could, and the rain stopped for me so I wouldn’t have to hurry.

The day was over, and shadows of the evening stole across the sky right in front of me.  Jesus, give the weary calm and sweet repose.  My Random House Dictionary defined repose as, among other things, a dignified calmness…composure.  Yes, give the weary a sweet repose.  Let all who work hard and all who are tired of fighting the same battles or any whose pain leaves them exhausted – give them a sweet repose at the end of this day.

And may our eyelids close.

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In September, 2013, when I first published this piece, I called myself a “bi-stateual” because Pretty and I had bought a place in Texas on Worsham Street which was a block off Old Plantersville Road, a favorite walking place for me when I liked to ponder the vicissitudes of life, as my daddy used to say.

Today, thirteen years later, I was reminded of a truth I think my daddy would have liked:

We are all just walking each other home.

Some of us just have four legs, and a little less time to do it.

(Pawprints of my heart)

When the noises of the universe trample the joys within us, let’s remember we are all just walking each other home. What can we do to make the journey joyful for ourselves and for someone else today?

Ollie, me, Red, Pretty, Chelsea, Drew, Annie in 2009

Ollie, Red, Chelsea and Annie walked each other home ahead of us