Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah
November – freezing cold, first snow down in the valley – lots of “closed for the season” signs in the campgrounds and stores in town. And snowing again as I write this.
AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
The spirit of this journal posting belongs to my son, Hunter, when we settled down to bedtime storytelling when he was a child. No matter the content or length of the story, no matter how final I thought the end was, he would always take a deep breath that I thought was the beginning of sleep. But he would open his eyes and ask, “And then what happened?”
It was as if he intuited the essence of existence. The river always flows on – there’s always the ongoing story.
For example:
Last week, during the day of Halloween, I was in town to resupply.
Parades of primary school children, herded by teachers and parents, were out and about in their Halloween costumes. Mostly scary. Lots of Draculas, witches, devils, skeletons, a dinosaur or two – And one small Santa Claus.
What?
Yes. Santa in perfect miniature.
While his troop paused in a park, I stopped to question him.
“Are you really Santa Claus?”
He nodded yes.
“Do you go trick-or-treating?”
Another affirmative nod.
And then he reached into his Santa sack, found a tiny candy cane, and gave it to me.
And then what happened? The ongoing story. . .
His aunt, who was his chaperone for the parade event, explained:
Last year, when the little boy was three, he had a life-changing encounter with a seasonal Santa in Salt Lake City. Like many small kids, he was afraid of going near Santa, but he noticed something she had not – Santa’s skin was the same color as his – brown. So, he sat on Santa’s knee with enthusiasm and received the gift of a candy cane, which he kept under his pillow all year without eating it.
When the matter of a Halloween costume came up this October, he said he wanted to be Santa Claus – when Santa was a little boy.
His mother thought, why not, so she made him the costume. And, at the little boy’s insistence, filled his Santa pack with – candy canes, of course. To give away – because that’s what Santa does. There are tricks – but also treats. That’s the rule. Some people understand that early on. And live the rest of the story of their lives that way.
That small Santa and that small candy cane shifted the mood of my day from dark to light.
Embedded in that story is the old adage that says it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
The small Santa doesn’t understand that yet.
But I do.
Onward!