VIEWS

I was looking at a picture of Lorain from atop St. Joe's parking garage, and it started me thinking of all the times I've looked around the city, and had what I was seeing turned into a snapshot in my head, so potent that, even though I might not remember exactly when it occurred, I'll never forget the image....

Looking up at the winter sky, around three am, and seeing a diamond-sharp full moon, in the very center of a brilliant ice-ring, surrounded by tiny grayish-white clouds.

Flames, leaping high into the black night sky, as the B&O roundhouse burned, the flashing red of the fire trucks, tentacular hoses writhing on the asphalt.

Slag, lighting up the sky as it pours.

A three year old child, a split second before a car bumper knocks him down, me too far away to grab him. (He was okay.)

Seeing the Lakeview fountain at night for the first time, and the late, unlamented one that used to be at Oakwood.

The slow, easy, sexy smile of a pretty girl, as she asks me for the time.

My mother, in a hospital bed; I'm five minutes late to say goodbye.

Experiencing a White Night-the light reflecting between the snow and the clouds, so it never gets dark.

Me, in a mirror, stunned by how much I resemble my grandfather.

Seeing Tracy's face for real for the first time~ I'm at the bus station, Cleveland, waiting at the gate for her bus to arrive, when I hear a familiar voice....the bus debarked on the other side of the terminal, and she's behind me. I turn, and see that face, full of hope, and love, smiling at me, just me.

What's in your (mental) wallet?