When They Outgrow You
Do you remember that scene in Raising Arizona when H.I. had a dream that stretched far into the future? It was the end of the movie and after all of the chaos of kidnapping a baby, being chased by a bounty hunter, and finally returning the child to his family, H.I. lay asleep in his bed and dreamed further into the future than he dreamed before.
My family loves to go out to breakfast on a weekend morning. We sit, color, read, eat, talk and plan our weeks ahead. Finn usually reads or fills in a coloring book. Lately, we’ve been sketching and drawing together. But last weekend he outgrew me just enough for it to stun me for just a moment.
The future is a cloudy landscape. We catch glimpses of it in the smallest of moments. Our child stands up for the first time. They learn to walk. Or learn to draw. It’s like the veil of time has been lifted from in front of our eyes and what’s shown to us supersedes the linear timeline of our lives. We see our children grown or gone. We glimpse a northpoint in time that may not even include us in it.
And still I dreamed on…
