Scary Things

He pulled all of his Fears out of all his Pockets and laid them all out on the table before Her. She looked at each one, picked a few of them up and looked closer at Them, then smiled and asked, "Is that All the Scary Things you got?"

Then, She reached for her Purse and dumped all of her Fears on the table with His.

Together, they sifted through them, quietly examining Each Others Fears.

Finally, a Realization broke the Silence: She didn't find most of his Fears to be very scary at all and He wasn't afraid of many of her Fears. Suddenly, lots of the Scary Things weren't so Scary anymore.

Then, for what seemed to be Forever, they told The Story of How they had found each Fear and Why they held onto It for as long as they had and Where they liked to keep it hidden so that no one knew they had it.

But, mostly they just laughed at all the Silly Little Fears they had collected over the years.

And when the two of them finally left that table in the Emotion cafe, I picked up all the Fears they had left behind and put them into an empty cup and covered them with coffee grounds and buried them deep in the trash so that No One would ever find those Fears and carry them around for so very long, again.

Forgiveness

After walking for (what seemed) a very, very long time along the Path of Kindness (with Himself and Others), He found himself in a small clearing in an Endless Field.

The sun warmed his soul as he emerged from the cool, wooden forest. The branches that shaded him - and held him in the shadows - were gone. The muddy, rocky path that he had clumsily walked gave way to firm, soft footing.

He dropped the small bag that held his few remaining possessions. He had learned, long ago, that some things were just too difficult or heavy to carry with him.

He shed the thick, leather coat that had kept him warm along the way.

He listened to the quiet whisper of a gentle breeze rushing into the trees behind him.

Then, He sat, still and quiet, and faced This. He thanked the Grass for giving him a soft place to sit. He did not move away when the Sun reached out to brush his cheeks with her warm fingertips. He did not flinch when the Wind began to brush the hair away from his forehead.

He simply closed his eyes and allowed the Universe to love Him, again.

After (what seemed to be) a very, very long time, He saw that here was no magnificent field of fragrant flowers. There were no grand, towering trees. There were no bubbling brooks or clear blue lakes or oceans with endless seas powerfully pounding the shores, Here. In fact, Nothing that he had Expected to find was Here.

Instead, there was only an eternally blue sky, a wandering sea of waving green grass, and a Stillness that was marked with a single, broken, wooden sign.

It read: "Forgiveness".

That's Actually Funny

"I told you This, yesterday," She said.

"Well, you know that I can't hear you when you're rolling your eyes at me," He said.

"That's Actually Funny," She said. And She smiled... for the first time in a long time.

Then, it occurred to him that when They weren't mad at each other, They actually got along quite well. 

Hope in the Morning

Hope is quite positive that he will never grow tired of his children crawling into bed and cuddling with him on the weekends. Listening to each breath breaking the morning Silence, hearing half-mumbled words spoken to Someone in Dreamland, putting a hand on their back to settle them back into Sleep, and watching their faces as they find Something in a Dream: all are Favorite Things in His World.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

I woke up this morning and found Today sitting on the edge of my bed.

She smiled as I finally awoke, leaned over to me, and whispered in my ear: "Yesterday is gone. She has left you, again."

As I scanned the room with my morning eyes, looking for my Yesterday, I found that she had, indeed, left without another Note or Goodbye - just the Broken Promise that she would be there in the morning was left on the bedside table.

"You always knew she would leave, again," Today continued, "Yesterday can't stay Anywhere for too long, without becoming UnHappy and Angry. You know, that. It's part of Who she is."

The only two words I could find in that nearly empty room were these: "I know".

Sensing the confusion and pain of another lost Yesterday, Today reached out to me, slid her hand into mine, smiled a sad smile, and offered me this: "Yesterday will always leave you. She always has. But, now, you have me, Today, and we have all day to do Whatever We Want and make Tomorrow Whatever We Want It To Be."

I truly loved Yesterday for having been a part of My Life.

But, I thank God or Whatever Gods There May Be for giving me Today. I am Thankful for knowing She will never leave - and will always be Present in My Life. With her Loving Promise, I can't wait for Tomorrow.

Needing Help

In that moment, He learned that He could only break his own heart 16,498 times.

After that, there was only Stillness and The Knowledge that as long as he put another piece of his heart into Her hands, She would continue to shatter each fragment of his fractured heart with a hesitant kiss.

He couldn't do the math in his head, but He knew there were a lot of Pieces to pick up, now, and put back together - and he'd definitely be needing Help.