Believe it or not, I have never been on a long haul flight, but I think my words have. I love words. Words that wait for the bee eaters to greet summer. Words that don’t sink in a glass of wine. Words that hug your dad on his eightieth birthday, and encircle his huge smile as he says, ‘I don’t feel eighty. My bike has done twelve and a half thousand miles in five years. I only look eighty’. Smiles that turn to hugs and hugs turn to words. Whether we write in love or in fear, words travel and travel far. They travel through time, carrying memories on the wing. Words carry the world on their backs, love, laughter, family, friends, their smiles, their tease, this family reunion with its colourful ties, rainbow scarves, opal hearts, bumble bee shirts, the sunrise-orange socks, eye-lined lashes, glistening ears and reddened lips. Words and their letters dance around the room like confetti in a breeze, twisting like vapour from a stove. They can get tangled in our hair. They can sneak into the corner of our eyes and wait. They sit cushioned on a tear. This morning lying in bed, waiting for the tablet to clear my head, I try to sleep, but instead, these letters are working words. These words become companions on my pillow next to my thick skull, hungover from the teacup storm of the weekend. They have their story to tell. Words make wishes like my wish that I want time to slow down, just a little. Not to be greedy. Just enough to make special moments last just a tiny bit longer. But then I remember that greed has an alarm, a red button on its side, that if my words come true, if my family reunion could last longer, then I would be stretching time for others who are suffering, I would stretch the agony of their grief, of their homelessness, the tragedy of that war on the news. The cavernous hollow of a bomb made crater cannot be allowed to grow. I can’t be greedy; my seconds must equal all seconds. We cannot warp the clock, it would not be fair. So acceptance and memories and words must be left to carry the love, as we turn and smile and move ever forward, in the hope of better times for those who need it most.
Lots of love.