Love Life

You might see it, but do you stop and acknowledge it?

Just another walk to school, just another morning. I’m not even sure which morning it was. I suppose I could look on the date stamp of the camera. But it doesn’t matter. It’s today, it’s yesterday, it’s tomorrow. It’s everyday. It’s now, it’s forever.

I actually looked down, saw this carved in the sidewalk near my older son’s campus, but kept going. I had a dog leash (complete with dog attached) in one hand and a bell about to ring on the other. Still, I got the boy through the gates in time and handed off said pooch to younger son and went back for the photo. It was now or later, now or never, now or tomorrow, but tomorrow never arrives, today is the time.

It couldn’t be more artfully sculpted. The green of the moss lightly paints the color of the letters, the grit and harshness of the sidewalk cement in contrast to the sweet message.

Who carves such words? A little bit of rebellion in the mind of something who “defaces” public lands. But then they didn’t tag their gangland mantra, they didn’t profess their love for their flavor of the month girlfriend, but rather proclaimed a universal love for life that makes you stop, start, think, and return to relish the love that someone dared to carve into the fresh cement on a backstreet of the city.

The timing of the cement layers, the coincidence of someone walking by wet cement, a stick or object within reach and the depth to dig such selfless emotion. Who does such a thing? We’ll never know. I’m thankful that they risked penalty, that they scrawled something that not only captures your attention, but makes you think beyond two more steps.

I never thought I’d say this, anti-litter/graffiti purist that I am, but thank you dear artist for daring to mark the path, to leave your mark, to spread your love in this way.

Today we love life, tomorrow is not yet here, yesterday is long gone. Love, in the present tense, life.

On the sidewalk on the way to school. The same sidewalk we’ve walked 50 times.