Twinkle twinkle Rudolph's nose
Here's the question that I pose
Can a city now named for hopeless woes
Awake in the morning and be yet a Rose
I was waiting for the beginning of the grand entry and parade, squirreled away from view in a corridor not likely to be used that time of day and a woman who I thought would just pass through. Her eyes had an aged sorrow in them and I knew that she was part of the heart of this city. She turned to me and said, "Do you know what I want this year Santa? I want them to stop fighting."
As I was settling in the "big chair" and the children were enjoying cookies and hot chocolate that were reportedly made by Mrs Claus the children made themselves busy decorating snowflakes to hang from the tree. many of the children made gifts of them to me, explaining that they had drawn on them portraits of Rudolph and myself making the great Christmas run, beautiful, they were and carrying the magic of a childs imagination, a magic with a great power of it's own.
Shortly after the crowd of children dissipated, Rian arrived. We had great fun giving everyone a thumbs up. Rian's thumbs were double jointed and I tried not to let my jealousy show. H left reassuring me that he would be back to visit again, this year or next I know not, but I look forward just the same.
She immediately struck me as the spitting image of Cindy Lauper. They same eyes as that beautiful woman and the same sorrow as the woman I mentioned before. She wished she could take a picture and share it with her family, I didn't know if that meant a street family or not but I was sure that she had legitimate relationships there. My staff told me a place where she was pretty sure that she had noticed her frequenting.
Regardless, she came and after the coaxing many need to overcome the fear that they may somehow hurt the delicate flower that I am not and she sat on my knee. She spoke without looking at me beyond a glance, embarrassed that she couldn't afford to pay for the photograph and disappointed that she couldn't get one and then shared her Christmas list consisting of one thing... a home. A home for her and her husband.
The day wore on and more than one group of adults that could have just awakened and rolled out of a hangover encrusted bed and trying to be silly but really not quite arriving at that particular destination until my helpers spotted on young African american man and something about him caused one of my cohorts to cajole him into sitting with me.
He sat next to me, again either being a young MAN or as so many others before him opted out of crushing my dainty snowflake visage, but regardless we had time to talk. Time to learn that he is in high school advanced placement psychology and hopes to persue that as well as media forms like television and radio.
He spent time trying to find words and was unsure how to ask for something that he knew very well was his to get, but he finally confessed that he wanted a scholarship.
I began to encourage him but he couldn't look me in the eyes for more than a moment as he spoke... I finally said, I had never asked him his name but I told him to stop and look me in the eye and hear my words.
I spoke to his destiny and told him that it was his to get, that he had it in him and that he shouldn't be surprised when it happened.
Then I sent him on his way and I noticed some swagger in his step that had been missing and at on point as he walked away he clapped his hands together in a victorious clap followed by a bit of a hop, he had a renewed hope. There had boldly crept in an anticipation of a victory that he hadn't yet caught sight of, and after all, isn't that what the hump is that we have to get over before we step into success?
