Seen Before I Was Ready ⚬

I was in the park when grief snuck up on me.

The way grief sometimes does. Like the time I saw horseradish at the grocer’s and started crying because it reminded me of my mother.

There I was on the bench, sun shining, birds swooping from tree to tree, squirrels sprinting in zigzags, when the wave came crashing over me.

A small whimper escaped before I could stop it. Across the path, a man lowered his newspaper and looked at me over the top of the page.

I pressed the heel of my hand against my cheek and took a deep breath. The next wave came anyway.

What do you do when emotion arrives at inconvenient times? Is there ever a proper place for it?

I gathered my things, swung my backpack over my shoulder, and headed toward the public restroom.