Glimpses of Significance

October has been chaos.  Not a little chaos; a lot of chaos.  And I haven’t handled it by writing; I’ve handled it by avoiding writing.  I don’t have one long story to tell, because the chaos has crowded out lengthy experiences that are worthy of being retold.  Instead, I’ve mined the month of October for a few glimpses of significant moments; times when I’m sure I am where I am supposed to be.

Bowling with John

It’s the final countdown of our hour-long bowling game, and in three minutes they will shut down our lane.  It’s John’s turn, and he’s slowly walking up to the line.  I hand him his ball and tell him this is his last turn, so he’d better make it count.  He swings the ball by his knee like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, and finally lets go.  It cruises down the hardwood floor and knocks down all but three pins.  The screen above our head flashes a warning sign of sixty seconds.  “I’ll go grab your ball and then you have one last turn,” I tell him.  “We only have a minute!” 

I pass him the ball and he starts swinging again, faster this time.  He releases it down the lane and, to everyone’s delight, he gets a spare.  We cheer and he lights up with the joy of victory.  We’re all gathered around him and he’s clapping furiously, and then it dawns on us:  he gets an extra turn.  I race back to the retrieval and hand him the ball, but I’m too late — the lights have dimmed.  It doesn’t matter, because John is glowing.  “Throw the ball anyway, John,” Mike instructs him.  “You earned it.”

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Death Cab for Cutie