A young girl and an old woman sat side by side at a bus stop. The girl was fresh and flighty. Her hair was silk and her eyes cracked and sparked. Her toes bounced to a beat all her own.
The old woman next to her contrasted sharply. She was laden with memories, tired and heavy. Stories of life were etched into her forehead, thousands of sunsets blurred her eyes and the winds of years had made her hair white and brittle.
Neither one of these two knew each other; they were simply strangers both arriving by chance at the bus stop at the same time. Their lives paused for a moment, as they waited for the bus… as they waited for their lives to go on. Silently each one of them chewed on their own thoughts, completely innocent to the fact that they were the objects of the others reflections.
The younger one sighed; longing engulfed her. A loneliness that seeps slowly. She glanced at the old woman and was filled with jealousy. At the same moment, the elderly woman seethed quietly with envy for her bright eyed and smooth skinned companion.
With a rumble and groan, the bus pulled up spewing smoke and both women parted ways, each with a pain in her heart. "That old woman doesn’t know how lucky she is,” the young girl thought to herself wistfully “she already knows love.” At the very same instant while taking her seat on a separate bus the elderly lady murmured while glancing at the valleys and folds on her hands, "that girl is so blessed, she has not yet been hurt.”