Drama Girl & Cowboy Dude

I miss Drama girl.  When I would pick Luke up from school last year, I would wait for her to walk on by.  I would sit in my car lined up on the street with the other parents, and watch the kids walk home.  Everyone would always look tired in a teen sort of way.  Beat up from the amount of work they had and carrying those enormous backpacks, schlepping them like a bunch of pack mules.   There were 3 kids that really stood out last year.  One was a super tall, lanky boy, who Luke informed me had a few special needs.  He would always have a huge lunch box, walk really fast and would stop on a dime and just stare out into space.  He had a big smile and would talk to himself along the way.  I loved seeing him.  I also think my dog scared him pretty good one day..so he avoided my Honda when he saw me.  Ranger is a sweet pup, but has a pretty big bark.    I think he must be in high school now, because I have not seen him this year.   Hope he is well and happy.  I miss his sweet spirit.  And that kick-ass , old fashioned lunch pail.

The two other teens that stood out and I just couldn't wait to see each day were Drama Girl and Cowboy Dude.  Two destined to be in love, but will never be together, because they were so different ...unless they meet at a class reunion 40 years later, and rekindle their spark.  She always wore black.  Black tights and black shoes and colorful hair.  And glasses. And a beanie that sat on the back of her head, even when it was 95 degrees.  He always wore jeans, cowboy boots (working boots), a plaid button down shirt and a Carhardt jacket.  His hair was short and he was stocky.  Built to be a linebacker or work the ranch.  She always was talking fast and moving her arms with such great expression and so achingly in need of attention.  They would walk together every day.  Sometimes random friends would tag along, but clearly this was their party.   Drama Girl desperately loved Cowboy Dude.  You could tell in the way she would jump around him while walking.  Talking about her day and madness of technology and the lack of human empathy.  She would talk about Whitman and Yeats and Rumi.   Ok..maybe I am just making all of that up, seeing that I was in my car and could only catch a word or two when they passed by, but she was chirping about something each day, that fired her passion.  Maybe it was music or art or science.   Cowboy walked, nodded, smiled and listened.  I never heard him say a word.  He was her rock.  Perhaps only for the 8th grade year, but still, was someone she could be herself around.   She never had a backpack.  He always had a backpack.   They would walk until I lost them in the distance or Luke came to the car door,  jumped in and said he was hungry.  Then they would disappear from my thoughts until the next day at 4:08 on the street, parked near the big tree.  Me in the green Honda, the gaggle of  mini vans, the occasional grandparent in a very clean,  paid off Infinity and every so often a cool car, like a new Camaro,  would be waiting too.

Like clockwork, I would see the big man and the girl in black.  She was a loud taker.   When it was nice enough to have the windows down, I could hear loud and clear.   Teenage love, swirling around us like humming birds.

It's in and around us, this love thing.  We lose it more often than not, in the daily grind.  We forget that we are a bunch of dang miracles walking around.  Free to love, free to express ourselves, free to go a step deeper than what is fed to us.  Every so often we cut through the fog and feel something deep.  Birth, death, falling in love, a song, a surprise encounter, an act of kindness.   Then the vibration wanes and we are back to standing in line at the post office, no music playing and the smell of the Asian buffet across the street sneaking in,  when someone walks through those heavy doors.  Target doesn't play music..have you noticed that?  I wonder why.  Hobby Lobby does.  A little too mushy for me.  Makes me shop quick, use the coupon an leave.   Maybe the Target people couldn't agree on one type of music.  So like a fed up parent, the company-man said "Fine then...no music."  "And we will bombard their senses with red, white and popcorn.."

So love.  I wish I could, at 50, live in love all the time like Drama Girl.  I catch myself in love a lot...but get sidetracked too easily by bad drivers and bro-country music.    I think Pope Francis is in love constantly. He's a pretty rockin' Pontiff.  Maybe the Dali Lama too.   And maybe the lanky lunch box kid.  He seemed pretty happy and in-love-like.   I guess it's pretty easy to live in the moment when you have lunch box big enough for two.  Just in case the opportunity comes to share a sandwich with someone pretty.  Love can happen any time.

I hope I see Drama Girl and Cowboy Dude tonight at the high school football game.  Maybe they will be holding hands in the bleachers.  Maybe she will be talking throughout the game and he will be nodding and smiling.  I'll keep a lookout for them.



Friday, September 18 2015

5:30 pm

feels good to write again.