It is one of those magic mornings when a full sun is rising from a blanket of clouds above an angry ocean and a cold wind. It is red and majestic and seems to say it trumps the unpleasantness choppy seas and biting gusts.
On the other side of the sky is a full moon, holy and white, against a dark blue sky. Having guided us through another dark night, it begins to slowly fade though it remains higher than the sun is at the moment.
In the middle of 15th Street I look at the sun and then at the moon. Inside of the Breakfast Club customers and friends are drinking hot coffee, eating cheese grits and staring at crossword puzzles. I've left them because there are things that must get done ... unpleasant tasks that make me sigh, then suck in air and make me try to tackle them one at a time.
I make it no further than the middle of the road before the rising sun commands my attention as though it's a King ascending to his throne wrapped in white sheets of clouds, throwing light to his subject, bathing me in a golden glow of sanctity. Just as large and beautiful is his Queen the Moon. She is complete throwing off her own loveliness with the confidence of a woman who knows she can take your breath away by just ... being.
In days gone by I would have thought to myself, "Stuck in the middle with ...me."
That is no longer true.
But I am in the middle of the road.
Another song lyric burst into my brain.
Crossing the highway late last night, should have looked left and should have looked right, didn't see the station wagon car, skunk got squashed and there you are ... dead skunk in the middle of the road.
"Hmmm," I think to myself laughing out loud.
I'm very much in the middle of the road ... literally and in every other way too.
Who I was is no longer who I am ... and it's certainly not who I'm becoming.
Yesterday, something I've spent months working on ... blew up. I'd planned on it happening but it's not going to ... at least in the way that I'd planned it. Come to think of it, most things I plan never quite work out the way I imagined.
Oh well.
What do you do?
The Moon throws fading beams on me, patting my back to remind me that I'd done my best. "It's alright," I'll watch over you tonight."
Simultaneously, the sun speaks louder, "Forget about it! That was yesterday. What are you doing today?"
My head turns from one to the other as I recognize that I need both. Consolation and challenge are perfect complements because one desperately needs the other ... and I find myself in desperate need of both.
Blowing a kiss to the moon, I leave the middle of the road ... very much alive and knowing that it's all going to work out alright. Opening the car door I throw a salute to the sun, now yellow and godly, understanding that today I'll make new plans.
Yesterday is gone. I did my best.
Today is here for me to do with what I will. I'll let you know or ... it'll be pretty obvious soon. Or it won't.
Tomorrow though, holds my heart and my promise. I wish the planning was better thought out but it's not ... yet anyway.
Oh well ... at least I'm not in the middle of the road anymore. Stuck or dead.
