The Great Circle of Zipping

Sometimes this circle of life stuff sneaks up on you. The last couple of times I have taken Mira for a run up at the graveyard, Mom has come along. Although she just turned 91, she still likes to walk a mile a day if the weather allows. For some reason she had trouble with the zipper of her raincoat today. After letting Mira off the leash, I tried helping. I quickly realized I didn’t have a mother’s talent for zipping  things from the front, so I got a little behind her and got the zipper started. A few minutes later it began to rain , so I told her to put her hood up.

And there it was, that circle of life thing–me doing for her what she had done for me when I was a boy. I looked into bright blue eyes and at her soft white hair and thought about the February days she had bundled me up to go out and play. I enjoyed the symmetry of it all. But honestly, this was no Lion King, pseudo-Hindu, new-agey circle of life moment. It was just a circle of love.

About Mark

I live in Myrtle Point, Oregon with my wife Teckla and am the father of four boys. Currently I teach writing and literature at Southwest Oregon Community College. I am a graduate of Myrtle Point High School, Northwest Nazarene College, and have a Masters in English from Washington State University.
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