Moments of Treasure

Treasures don't always approach the way we anticipate them to.

An ordinary man walks into an office in hopes of fulfilling obligations by turning in necessary paperwork but sits and stays to join in conversation about Faith, small joys in life, childhood memories, future plans, etc..

The man stayed until the female office worker had completed her tasks for the day and could proceed to leave.

As she headed to the sink in a nearby break room to wash out the sugar-stained bottom of her oversized coffee mug, he took advantage of the brief seconds he had alone to write his contact information.

As the woman walked back into her office, he presented her with the bright neon colored sticky note and told her he planned to intentionally keep in touch. He then expressed his hope for her to end up somewhere near the city in which he just accepted an engineering position, upon her own upcoming college graduation. 

The girl was in a content season of life. She had endured her share of dead-end relationships and was not in a rush to get intimately acquainted with another. So while she accepted his gesture of friendship, she was weary to believe it was anything beyond exactly that.

They walked out together. He held open the door and she thanked him, just as she would with anyone else.

He offered her a ride to her car and she cheerfully accepted, wishing to avoid the nearly mile walk back to her designated parking lot. He handed her a helmet and told her to "hold on". Despite her fear of motorcycles, she hopped on anyway and enjoyed the ride. Her squeals of excitement could be heard around campus.

As the two approached her car, they got off and entered into some small talk, avoiding every reason to say goodbye. Eventually, the heat of the sun caught up to them and forced their paths to part. The man confronted the moment for exactly what it was: Odd. It felt completely unnecessary to say goodbye when every part of one's being wanted the opposite.

As she began fumbling through her bag for her keys, he gently pulled her into his embrace, rested his chin on her head, and hugged her tight. The moment lingered into longer, until they let go and with a glance that said what neither one could, they continued their days separately.

Curiosity became the elephant in each situation throughout the concluding day until it was nearly nightfall. The two decided their time together for the day could possibly continue if they decided on plans for the evening. Ideas were thrown around until it began getting late and sleep entered each of their sleepy minds.

Though, it felt like one of those nights that shouldn't be wasted. So, hammocking (I've made this term into a verb) in a local park was the perfect pick. They settled on a time to meet and she called for directions too many times.

As they caught up again, they hung each of their hammocks in nearby trees and nestled into them. The breeze was chilling as they cuddled into their blankets. They spent the night a few trees away from each other, entering into quiet debates about what it means to have Faith, God's divine intervention, how much we really won't know on this side of eternity. They also slipped in random questions to get to know each other better: family, divorce, hardships, siblings, favorites, hobbies, anything to keep from shutting their eyes.

Finally, as the moon solely lit the sky, the stars danced into patterns, and the time drifted slowly into wee hours of the morning, they silently fell asleep. They avoided "goodnight" just as they avoided "goodbye" earlier in the day. It felt as though saying that one word were too official, as though no words after that were able to be spoken. So, the lines were left open and a few short comments popped up before sunrise but for the most part they just silently slept, comforted by the company they knew was near and the blossoming connection they were anxious to see through.

As the sun rose, they packed up and parted ways once again. The tight hug, the acknowledgement of a forced goodbye, it all replayed so familiarly.

In life, we have to say goodbyes. I am sure many times we won't want to, we will want the exact opposite but we will anyways. All good things come to an end, some sooner than later, and because of that truth we are afraid to have great moments, at all. Treasures, however, are memories that stay with us forever. We don't part ways with fond memories of little moments, we treasure them.

The moral of the story is, life is full of treasures-- We just have to recognize them as such.

Let them pleasantly surprise us as we embrace them, not go running scared.