The other night I was making my way to Nashville and since I was passing my coffee place I stopped to buy a cup.
It was a nice evening, so I took a minute to sit outside and just enjoy the time. Sitting not far from me was a young girl and her boyfriend. I knew the young girl because at one time she had worked in the coffee place. She is a very nice young lady. She started to go inside for another cup of coffee and, as she passed my table, I asked her, “How much longer until graduation?” Smiling rather big, she said, “Seven more days and it is all over. Then I’m going to Denver and start college there soon.” Her excitement was very evident. “Good luck,” I replied. “Thank you.”
Shortly after our brief exchange the two of them got up and started toward her car in the parking lot not far from where we all had been sitting. As they got to the car, he opened her door; she stepped in and rolled the window down. They talked for just a few seconds more. Then he brushed a bit of hair from her forehead and leaned in and kissed her. It was nothing suggestive, nor in bad taste, just a brief kiss, something similar to what you might have done in your youth in a parking lot. Oh, come on, you probably did much more in a parking lot in your time. With that, he stepped away from her car as she slowly pulled away, giving him a big smile and a soft wave. Remember those “soft waves” that spoke volumes? Lucky guy, I thought.
As the young lady drove from the parking lot, I noticed writing on the spare tire mounted on the back of her Jeep that read, “Life is good.” I smiled and thought, “Yes, yes, I’m sure right now it is.” There are times in the lives of most all of us when life was good and everything appeared in its place, especially just a few days before high school graduation.
As I continued to watch her Jeep disappear in the distance and thinking of “Life is good,” it made me think of a line from an old Statler Brother’s song that says,
we all thought the world would change to fit our needs.”
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April 24, 2013
Keep on,
Larry Adamson