A Stranger's Observation.

On the train to Pennsylvania last Saturday, a Jewish psychotherapist sat down next to me, and proceeded to engage me in conversation for 100 minutes-- or, all the way from Penn Station to Dover, New Jersey. I learned that Suzy worked in spiritual direction at her local synagogue, and we quickly had a lot to talk about, since I was familiar with similar programs. Our conversation eventually turned to family. She pulled her wallet out and showed me well-worn photos of her three grandchildren. I pulled a picture out of my purse of my siblings and I.

The photo is almost a year old; taken around last Thanksgiving at a farm we had all grown-up visiting. It is a spontaneous photo-- we organized ourselves (all six of us) to sit on the railing of an old, wooden fence ... We hold hands. The November air is cold, and our hands are dry from the wind; our eyes water slightly. Joshua, the baby, cannot stay on the fence post. He thinks he is falling. He is not falling. He will be fine. We all smile. The temperature is dropping. We smile, anyway. A moment is captured. The photographer is pleased with his work. We disembark from the rickety fence.

Suzy was in awe over the photo. She couldn't help remarking about each person in the photo. When she noticed Baby Sister, Suzy remarked, "She is beautiful... in a different way than you." Suzy paused. I nodded in agreement and began to share how Baby Sister can look effortlessly cute, wearing just mascara. Suzy looked at the photo longer, more thoughtfully and than looked back at me. "Ah," she said smiling, "she is of the earth, and you are of the air."

This afternoon, almost five days after meeting Suzy, I still cannot shake her comment from my mental processing. I continue to think about that phrase-- frozen as it were in bold letters (and even underlined) in my mind. "She is of the earth, and you are of the air." What did Suzy mean? What does her statement mean? I cannot wrap my mind around it. And, perhaps because I do not understand it, is the reason why I cannot stop thinking about it. Suzy was right. She knew exactly what she was talking about; and she described Baby Sister and I in a way no one else ever has. She was right about us. Right about the way we are-- the earth and the air. Two happy mediums, content to be ourselves; content to live together, too.