Bucket List Shattered

While I was in Auto Zone about a battery, a young man spoke, and I  barely returned his greeting. Then, he said, "Aren't you Mrs. *****?" Stunned, I said I was. It turns out he was a friend of my son. He asked about my son. I asked what he was doing. It turns out he works for CSX, a railroad line that runs through area.

We talked for a bit, and I asked how a person would get to ride on that little car that rides the track and is moved by the up and down motion of a handle. This little car probably has a name. He informed me those were no longer used.

Crushed! Well, I had always wanted to ride one of those someday. This dream deferred had dried up like a raisin in the sun.

It had been 38 years since I had seen this man as a child. Adults do not change as much over the years as children do. As I searched his face, I could not see the child I knew. Sometimes, I can after I am given a name.

Just a note: It is cold here, very cold in the house with heat as high as it can go. No Wonder! It is 8 degrees F here at 4:30 am.

Have you ever had a child, now grown, approach you, remembering you from so many years before? How do you feel in that one brief moment? Have you ever had a whim about doing something only to find that experience was no longer available?