Walking with Ms. Lee

Mount Horeb, Wisconsin

The invitation was for an arts and crafts open house.

When “Ms. Lee” calls, I respond, at least as much as I’m able. Kindred spirits don’t just grow on trees that come along every day, ya know. I came, I saw, she conquered… with her charm and her art. The next day we met again, this time for breakfast and a walkabout in her picturesque town. It presented a mix of old and new buildings—there was even a vintage opera house still standing with its roof, if not its dignity, intact. Our conversation flowered—flowing without direction—stories big and small, bits and pieces of our respective lives. We know each other somewhat from years of long-distance interaction, but because we don’t know that much, most of it was new.

Ms. Lee and me, walking in the cold December air, making little connections, filling in a few of the blanks, finding islands of truth in a world full of lies. Two wandering stars, coming together for a moment at the speed of enlightenment, then drifting apart, to once again become distant glimmers on the horizon of life.