Sitting on a bench outside a shopping mall, I saw a group of
four walking: two women and two little girls— the latter, likely, early
elementary schoolers. The two adults were carrying shopping bags and each had a
little girl walking both beside her and at the same time trailing slightly
behind her. As they approached the crosswalk, the signal changed, giving them
the right of way, and the little girls took off; free spirit personified.
And then the wind picked up, providing additional momentum
that seemed to fuel the raising of their arms, now outstretched to their sides,
channeling airplane wings, while their feet easily overtook the adults in the race
to the other side.
And just as their crosswalk adventure was coming to its end,
just as I further entertained the thought of children as free spirits, I saw
two older girls, who were also running, but crossing over towards my side of
the street by way of another crosswalk. These girls, who looked to be
teenagers, appeared slightly winded from their exertion, and once across their
designated finish line, immediately eased into a stroll as one reached over and
both clasped the other's hand.
On the heels of seeing the two sets of girls, I found myself smiling. While there were obvious differences between them and in how they engaged in the same activity, ultimately, both felt like energetic mirrors of each other; both felt like free spirits, personified.