A Christmas Eve Blessing

Making my rounds, delivering odds and ends of Christmas offerings to odds and ends of households, I pulled in to a Dunkin Donuts, as I had been short of breakfast. I placed my order, and the unseen voice on the intercom said. “That will be one fifty one, Sweetheart. “

 

Sweetheart! I am not sure anyone has ever called me Sweetheart. Totally charmed, I way over-tipped! 

 

I continued on my way, stopping here, there, and a few other places. It was a very fine morning, I passed many elderly dogs walking their people, people waiting for busses – maybe even a bus my granddaughter was driving; people running, biking, strolling. The radio was playing Christmas carols, reading lessons, asking us to remember the lonely and the unloved and calling for unity, peace, and goodwill among all. The voice on the radio called us “beloved,” if not sweethearts – they mean the same thing, after all.

 

Joy to the World! Yes! Time out from the news.  I sing in the car with the choristers; no one will hear and discourage my vocal additions. But then again, we sound great together.

 

My last stop was at a temporarily empty house; the resident cat, elderly and lame, was embarking on his final journey to that other shore, to the greater light. As I place my envelope by the door, I worry that I am intruding on grief and sadness. But – the carols continue, and I continue singing, and I know that darkness does indeed give way to light. Sweethearts all.

 

It was the greatest of Christmas Eve blessings – the anonymous voice, totally unexpected: “Sweetheart!” There were, for sure, many sweethearts on the road that Christmas Eve day, driving up for their coffee and donuts, driving off as sweethearts in the world.