2005-03-17 - 8:38 a.m.
Thanksgiving day – 2027
The house is a flurry of activity, filled with the smiles and laughter of many close friends and family members. Children run about, playing too loudly, darting dangerously between rickety card tables and bookshelves, which hold precious visions of the days leading from then to now.
I stand quietly and watch it all, surrounded and yet separate from the din – no one there knows just how alone I am in the moment. I am in a world by myself, watching a dream unfold before my eyes. The colors, sounds, sights and smells are more vivid and real than I had ever imagined they would be and my eyes moisten at the idea that I am here, in this moment.
That dream that I pursued for so long – the one that pulled me back on-course through all my years – is alive and breathing heartily before my tear stained vision.
I feel a hand on my waist; of course she sees me there and acknowledges my tears. She pulls in close for a warm embrace at my side and asks if I am ok, but she knows why the tears are there. She knows, because she knows my dreams, like no one has ever known. She knows, because we shared our dreams so many years ago and lived their unfolding together as those years passed by. She’s more beautiful today than I ever remember – even in her youth.
I step to the table and speak up. The scattered groups converge into one around the table, the noise quiets, the atmosphere grows still – even the children feel the weight of the moment and look to their parents in wonderment, their eyes asking, “What is grandpa doing?” And I speak.
“A long time ago, when I was just a boy…just 19…I was a sailor on uncharted seas. I had no home and no goal, but I had a map – a map to a great treasure – one that I could picture in my mind as if I had once laid eyes on it.’
‘And so I traveled the seas in search of the treasure. Often I strayed from the course, sometimes out of ignorance and sometimes pursuing a star. I even commanded a pirate ship for a while and laid waste to other ships along my path, a path that often lead into dark ports and coves, deep caves and grottos…’
‘…but I saw the evil of my ways and the lives I had destroyed and eventually turned from that life and was lost for a while. While I drifted on the open seas, I struggled to find my way back to the course on the map – to find my way back to the path that lead to the treasure. But the map seemed incomplete and I frequently lost my way.’
‘I met friends along the way; some I helped find their way back to their path and some helped me find my way.’
‘And then, one morning a new dawn broke on the horizon and the world exploded all golden and pink and every cloud showed its silver lining; I was joined by another. She was lost on the seas as well and so we decided to search our fortune together – we each pulled out our maps. She said hers seemed incomplete as we laid them down side-by-side and then we saw…
…we had two sides of the same map.’
‘We knew then that we were destined to seek and find our fortune together.’
‘That map was a chart to the treasure that was (and is) our dreams. Today, we have found that treasure.’
‘All throughout my life, through all the storms and straying, the dreams that lead me back on course was this very moment. My treasure, my dream realized is this moment – standing here with all of you, looking out over my family…my children and grandchildren and my friends. This is my dream and all of you have made it come true. Yes, it was me who had to find this moment, but it was all of you that showed me the way and all of you who now sparkle and shine like golden stars and treasure beyond worth. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and you are more magnificent that I have ever imagined.”
I grow quiet as all stare on. She comes in close again and holds me…and now holds me fully and we embrace like only two people who have found their dreams together can do. And for a moment we are young again as we look into one another’s eyes and she breathes to me, “I love you.”
The silence breaks over the discomfort and everyone shares love and friendship in embraces and smiles, laughter and cheer and we all know…we just know.
Again I am alone and watch it all, marveling still that I am here. I won’t question it or wonder at the how – I will spend every ounce of this treasure and go on into a new horizon, one day, with the wealth of a thousand pirate captains buried deep within my soul.
I’ll leave half a map to that treasure behind and maybe some young sailor will find it one day. I hope he will…
