We are on the train to New York City. Our first trip of the kind and my mother is taking a moment to tell us, my brothers and me, please always stay together, and if you get separated, find a policeman.
The next thing I can recall is being there with my mom and my brothers in Macy’s, the largest department store in the world. Mom allows us to take the elevator up to the floor where they have all the toys, an entire floor, a whole city block, filled with the best toys.
That’s where it happens. My brothers are there with me looking up at this cool model airplane, diving down from above in attack mode. Then they are not there and I am standing by myself in an empty aisle among many aisles, on a floor among many floors, within this huge store, within this huge city, wondering what to do next.
Then I realize what I need to do. Easy enough. I’ll go to the entrance where we came in and wait there for my mom and brothers to leave. I’ll catch them on the way out. (I did not know at the time that there are multiple entrances in and out of Macy’s nor did I consider that my mother would refuse to leave the store without ascertaining my whereabouts.)
I sit patiently on the floor, waiting by the entrance, until a kind, well-dressed woman employee approaches to ask if I am lost. No, I’m not lost. I’m sitting here waiting for my family to leave the store. The lady then asks if I might care for some cookies and milk while she helps me find my family. Yes, please. So off we go to a comfortable office where soon my mom comes through the door teary, but happy. She is relieved to find me, worried to death that I was wandering the streets of New York in search of a policeman.
The big take away from this trip to NYC is not what you’d expect. Not “don’t ever lose sight of your brothers”, or “don’t lay up for yourself treasures here on earth where shiny things can lead you astray,” but rather “when love abides with you, home is wherever you are.”
Lost? I was not lost. I was separated from my family, yes, but not lost. There is an abiding love we breathe into our DNA from loving moms and good shepherds, those ever mindful of us, who love us always and regardless, no matter what we do, or how far we wander.
Thank you, loving moms. Thank you, good shepherds. Thank you, all creation, all creatures great and small, all things familiar from coffee mugs to gentle rains, all of them, kindred and close at hand, inviting us to be intimate with our surroundings, inviting us to enjoy cookies and milk right where we are, right here at home.
The Rev. Bradford Clark is the rector of Ascension Memorial Church in Ipswich.