candles....cake........guest book............

Waving to the Man in the Wheelchair and his Dog.

My drive to work takes me on a road we call the "Canal Route".   It's a divided road, three lanes each direction,  with a large concrete drainage system down the middle.   Several walkways cross the highway and on one walkway in particular, I usually see a man in a wheelchair with a blanket on his lap.  Next to his chair sits his dog, still and patient they watch the cars below.     Each morning, I roll my window down and wave to him......and he waves back.     I started waving before he actually saw me a while ago,  I would lean forward and place my hand close to the inside of my windshield.    I guess he couldn't see me so I started rolling down my window part of the way and waving to him from there, and sure enough, he started to wave back.

After the wave exchange, I continue my drive to work and sometimes my thoughts stay with him....who is he?   Does he wish he was on his way to work like the rest of us at that time of the morning, or is he content with his life now, a spectator to the morning rush hour?    Does he still drive at all?

And I sometimes wonder what life will be like "after career", with all the time in the world to take a dog for a morning outing, to watch traffic, to let my gaze rest on the chaos of the swiftly moving cars below me.

On the days that he is not there, I wave at him in my head.   May he be well.  May I be well.   May we meet someday for a handshake, and not just a wave.