This, Too, Must Slip Into The Past

This morning, I had a "time stands still" moment, seated at a table in front of a coffee shop in San Juan.

Wanting to blanket out the chatter of a man seated next to me on a business call so that I could focus on my book, I put in my earbuds and opened YouTube Music on my iPhone. I chose a song that takes me back to summer 2019.

That summer, Angelika and I started the habit of turning off all screens as the sun set, ending our days with open windows, candles, music, and soft conversation. We would lay in bed, embracing one another, oftentimes for an hour or more.

It was one such evening when I first heard "Remember This Summer," by Sensitize. I lay in bed embracing my Love, fully present, grateful for life and especially for her—for us—for everything.

That night, this music brought that rare glimpse of eternity—appreciation for all that is past and the eternal slipping of now into it.

This morning I bathed in that same joy; both reflecting upon that summer evening and also being fully present to the moment I was in; the music and my soul entering oneness in the sunlight where there is no delineation between past or present, because there really is no time at all.

In that moment, as time stood still, a young man flew out of the coffee shop and into the loving embrace of two dear friends, whom he hadn't seen in some time...perhaps years. For a long moment, the three of them embraced, smiling ear to ear, pausing to look into one another's eyes, and embracing again.

This. This is life.

Me, a stranger, smiling...taking it all in, knowing that this, too, must slip into the past.