On we go

Feeling the heat on my skin.
Feeling the sweat drip down my face.
Feeling the sun pound in to my bald head.
Feeling the hot breeze stumble past.

The humidity is a creature standing on my shoulders.
The creature is heavy and drags me down.
The weight makes me tired and slow.
On we go.

A child runs past me in this heat.
His mother tels him to wait for her.
She has the creature on her shoulder too.
The child has not known the ravages of age.

The child dreams of monsters.
We old people ignore them at our peril.
What does that child know?
On we go.

This happened today on the way back from lunch. I had been walking on the roof of the parking garage in the sun and heat. I felt warn and wet on the way back to the office. A mother and child past me on the ramp between the buildings. The child was unaffected by the heat and humidity. He was happy to be alive and free of the drag of reality. I learned something at that moment. The walls and monsters I fight are my own. I cannot ignore them, but I can learn to live with them. I can learn to thrive amongst them. That child taught me this. How many times do I need to learn this lesson?