December 19, 2008

Late


We were going to be late.

And it had already been a long day.

I was pretty sure, having already been introduced to the features of multiple forts in detail, that I could live without a personalized tour of this one.

But as soon as I saw the tears well up in his eyes, I knew I'd need to reconsider.

I turned out that he'd saved the best for last.

This was his treasure shelf, full of things that he had found (or bartered for) over the course of the whole week.

It was difficult to overstate the specialness of each treasure. Each one had a story.

I stood listening, awash in memories of what it felt like to treasure the found.

And I let go of "late."

(Thank you to the women
of Sunday Scribblings
for their continuing inspiration.)

11 comments:

Rinkly Rimes said...

Sometimes 'late' can become 'later' for very good reasons.

Tammie Lee said...

wonderful, letting go of 'late'.
you remind me that treasure are hugely about the memories they hold.

Roan said...

An excellent reason to be late. Nice use of the prompt.

Andy Sewina said...

There's some interesting items in the picture and I guess it's never too late to spend a little time with the ones you love even if it means you'll miss something else.

Nicely written.

Patois42 said...

They're are quite often very good reasons to let go of "late." This was surely one of those. Beautifully done.

Tumblewords: said...

How perfect this is! Wise and wonderful...

Anonymous said...

Awww, great reason to be late. "saved bestfor last."

Amanda said...

That was a lovely post!

AscenderRisesAbove said...

awww. I still have a rock from when I was about 12 that looks like a hot potato when it is wet. I used to keep it in a bowl of water to keep it wet. Otherwise it looked like a rock. ;-)

San said...

how endearing. :)

JulMarSol said...

A good lesson in patience and taking time to listen. I often have to tell myself to take that quick break.