The two women at lunch— mother and daughter, obviously. The girl is close to beautiful, tall, seventeen or so. She can’t sit still in her seat. She bounces around, tosses her hair, eats too fast, talks a mile a minute while looking all around just in case there is something interesting she hasn’t seen yet. The mother is gorgeous, perhaps mid-forties, her eyes alone are a 500 page novel. Serene and smiling, she is a total contrast to the young woman sitting across the table. How happy she is to be here with her daughter, how proud. Not many years ago this is the same child who frequently exhausted every bit of patience she had. The difficult student, the one with dyslexia or ADHD, or just wildly impatient about anything that didn’t interest her. But now look at her— this wonder, this young woman who is moving way too quickly out of my life and into her own. She has already set sail and I can only watch. But today she’s generous enough to have lunch with Mom and talk about things that matter with her first, her greatest pal. She doesn’t even know how great a gift it is. But Mom does.
Jonathan Carroll (via browndresswithwhitedots)
