Campfyre Stories

‘Tis the season…  I suppose.  To be completely honest, I haven’t really been feeling it this year.  I think part of it has to do with the craptakular week (and not-so-fabulous month) that I’ve been having, but also the weather isn’t very seasonal.  With the exception of 3-4 days, it’s been pretty warm and for upstate NY, that’s not right for December.  Also, my situation means that I’m not inundated with the city’s decor and publicly blasting the Christmas tunes.  I thought I’d be happy about it, but I think I miss that piece - it helps to get me into the spirit of things.

I don’t see as many decorated houses as I thought I would.  Every time I hear the radio announce XX more days ’til Christmas, I’m shocked.  I also hadn’t started my holiday shopping until pretty much yesterday.  Yes, I know, I have, like, 9 days to do all of this.  I am aware.  (And, actually, I only have about 7, so leave me alone, I am aware).  I saw two things this week, while riding the bus, that brought me back to the holiday season.  It was a reminder that the goodwill toward man(kind) does come out in stronger force this time of year.

The first was a little old lady.  She was a tiny, frail-looking thing who got on the bus and asked "Where does this bus go?"  The bus driver told her and she seemed satisfied with the answer.  A few miles down the road the driver went over to the little old lady to try to find out where she needed to get off. 

She was a little confused.  She couldn’t explain where she lived other than to give her address, which was a street no one had heard of.  It turned out (after calling in to the dispatch) that she was on the wrong bus.  So he took her as close to where she was going as his route allowed and then, as he escorted her off the bus to the bus stop, he explained to her that his supervisor was going to come and pick her up.  It was too far to walk so "stay here" (he sat her on a bench in a bus shelter) and this supervisor would drive her home.

I found that really sweet.  No one seemed to mind that we were a little delayed in getting wherever we all were going, it was nice to see that this little old lady was being taken care of. 

The second thing happened last night and it was a really touching thing.  Three boys got on the bus with their aunt.  They were on their way to see Monsters, Inc on Ice.  They were just being boys, pushing and jostling, complaining about how there were no seats when they looked up and saw their dad.  The little one, who was 4, there aren’t any good words for this…  his entire face lit up in that blissful joy that you only see on little kids.  He ran to his dad, threw his arms around him and pretty much attached himself.  The eldest, 14, sat next to dad and chatted his ear off.  The middle one was somewhere between 6-8 y/o and was apparently too cool to focus on dad, but was still happy to see him.

These boys were thrilled at the chance to see their father for the half-hour or so they were on the bus.  It was completely unexpected on all their parts, which I think made it all the more special for them.  I wasn’t eavesdropping - when people are in a public place and shouting across aisles and over people, it ceases to be eavesdropping because you can’t NOT overhear them.

The boys were getting ready for Christmas.  Dad was going to see them on Christmas weekend and he couldn’t wait.  This dad, he really loves his kids.  It just completely shined through how much he loved (and missed) them.

I said something after the boys went to see their Disney on Ice.  I told him his family was beautiful and that his boys were really bright (they were, you could tell just listening to them talk).  He smiled and me with a wistful look in his eyes.  "I haven’t seen them in a while.  I really miss them.  They are really great kids."  It made my eyes well up.  It’s making my eyes well up now, as I write this.

I know that he talks to his boys on the phone (because they were talking about how they do that), but it’s really sad when you can’t see your kids.  The excitement of the little one after not having seen Dad and Dad’s melancholy when the boys were gone were proof enough that no one is spending enough time together, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s really circumstantial or if it’s someone’s choice…  it’s obvious that it’s not the choice of any of those four.

But it was really sweet to see a loving father gain unexpected time with his kids.  The aunt was pretty encouraging of this encounter as well.  She seemed to know that it was something really important to these guys.  I hope it gave them some small portion of what they need.

It’s silly, I guess, to use that second encounter to remind myself of the time of year, but for me the holidays are all about family.  Thinking about family, spending time with family, keeping warm, being together.  It’s not (for me) about the commercialism or even (though I may talk about it in these terms) the loot.  It’s about family, and I got to see that.  THAT is what I was reminded of.

I needed that.  More than I realized.