The Dragonfly

It was on the train from Simons Town to Muizenberg that I looked out the window and saw this lady stepping out the pub at Kalk Bay station. She turned her head and I felt like I could almost hear her thinking.

Was the train going to be on time today?
Would she make it home so that she could carry on with her plans for the day?

Just a second later a little boy came running out the bar. Excited about something, pointing his finger at the mountain. Or was it the beach? or maybe a stranger walking past? I don’t know what the little boy had on his mind. I just know, that it was not the train being late that occupied his thoughts.

The lady looked at the little boy, forgetting for a moment about the dinner she had to prepare at home. Just trying to see what the boy was so excited about.

My train left the station dragging the lady and the boy out of sight.

I still have this picture in my mind now sitting on the balcony looking at the sun going down behind the mountain. It leaves me with a sense of peace. I am just human.

Knowing that life never sticks to the plans I make I still have them – like most of us. But then there are these moments where someone, a child, a friend, a stranger, a smile, a word, a cat or a dragonfly makes us forget about our plans. Just showing us something we have never looked at before. Or even something we have looked at a thousand times before but have never seen it.