'You'll be stuck with the school kids' the stationmaster warned me, as I hauled my dusty, travelweary self onto the country train. But something wonderful was about to happen, and none of us knew.
A few hours into the journey, when the explosion of teenagers was starting to quieten down, I looked up and framed by the train door was a girl and a boy hugging each other. It was obvious from the silent glory in the air that it was the first embrace. Their hands were softly around each others shoulders, faces hidden in each others neck, and you could feel that for them, the whole world had turned to golden shimmers, fluttering down.
They would take breaks. He would check his phone, she'd do the bored teenage stare into space, while inside was rejoicing. Then they would go back to amazing themselves in this soft embrace, a gift from above.
The other teenagers were great, pretending not to notice, giving them space.
After he got off, she regrouped with her friends. 'I cant believe it happened'.
'I feel like a new person'
'She just got her first kiss'.
The oil painting above was painted 20 years after the French Revolution, in the cool, calm and collected Neo Classical Style. Psyche cannot see Cupid, but feels something waking up in her.
At the moment of a new world opening up for someone, they become beautiful. Its just the way it is.
We get to be 14 for such a brief moment . But we can have a lifetime of new collaborations as we evolve in the work we do. We can daily find new ways of being gallant and facing up to scary things with grace.
It can be glorious.
Packing up an old word reverendly, appreciatively, softly, can also be something new, an act of love.