She was captivating. Bundled up in a white snowsuit, sitting in her Mom’s cart in the checkout line at Target, all I could really see of her was her beautiful, sparkling eyes. Those eyes were taking in everything around her while her mom methodically checked out. This little one was awake to the moment. The energy in her eyes was unmistakeable.
Our eyes met just as her her mom adjusted the cart. I could no longer see Little Awake One straight on, but I could see the crinkles around the edges of one of her eyes. She was smiling at me. I melted. I smiled back at her with a smile bubbling up from the depths of my heart. Time seemed to stand still in this connection between us: Little Awake One and One Feeling Alone passing time in Target while traveling hundreds of miles from home. Now I was fully wake to this moment, too.
She leaned toward me, straining to see me around the edge of the white snowsuit hood. Her little arms and legs thrashed around as she struggled to move her body which was bound by that snowsuit and her confining seat in the cart. She turned at her waist and all of a sudden she was facing me.
We both erupted into huge smiles. Full on connection. Her body relaxed as she reached her goal. All her energy was in her face for that second. She was beautiful. The connection between us was beautiful. Time stood still.
Far too soon, the moment was over. Her mom finished her transaction at the register and began pushing the cart away. Her mom never saw me. Never spoke.
Little Awake One leaned around her mom to maintain eye contact as long as possible while the cart moved away. She never stopped smiling as long as our eyes met. Neither did I.
I am smiling as I think of this beautiful connection from weeks ago. The memory melts my heart even now. I’m smiling, too, because even though I thought God was finished with that connection at that moment, I now know it was just the first of several connections he would make that would begin a beautiful journey in my heart.
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Have you had a time stand still connection lately? What happened in that moment and maybe even afterward because of that moment?
