A Brief Moment

A Moment in Time

Life is amazing. The smallest interaction with someone can change your life or impact your perspective on profound levels. I hope everyone has a story like the story I hold near to my heart. A moment in time that occurred more than 20 years ago in the small city of Alameda, California.

Each year during the summer months, the City of Alameda holds its annual Wine and Arts Festival. The festival is held on Park Street where the streets are closed to traffic, vendors setup their spaces in the middle of the road, and a kids play area is setup on a turnout in the middle of the event. The beer and wine vendors can be found along the street and stages are erected for performers at either end of the event.

The food is great, the drinks are perfect for the hot weather, friends and family are always crossing paths with us for some hugs, laughs, and the chance to catch of on family affairs. It is a slow stroll on either side of the street with a stop at each end to hear the live music. Good friends who have become musicians are typically performing during the afternoon and those live salsa and jazzy songs never fails to make us shake our booties.

As my family casually strolls along the West side of the street, sampling the food and beer, we meander toward the Northern end of the event. Music is playing, I run into an old high school friend who I had not seen in 15 years or so stops me in my tracks, and it is hugging time! This old friend once saved me from crowds of people who wanted to hurt me. She is still beautiful, and I thank her again for watching out for me when she did not have to, she waves it off like it’s no big deal. After a catching up, I tell her I will catch her at the other stage later so we can share a beer before we head out.

Finally, my mother, sister, and young daughter catch up to my father, my grown son, and I as I am wave goodbye to my long-lost friend. We are starting our stroll back on the Eastern side of Park Street and looking for the next stop to either shop, eat, or grab a drink.

As we are talking, laughing, looking around, a young man catches my eye. He is a young man of maybe 20 years old, but truthfully, I cannot tell his age. He has Down Syndrome, he has a full beard, and it was bright read. He is wearing a baseball cap and I can see his red hair poking out wildly underneath.

He stops and asks, “can you help me find my father?”. He looks around nervously, “my dad went to get a beer, but he hasn’t come back!”. I can see the fear in his eyes, and I can see he is doing his best to hold back his tears. He is barely succeeding at not crying.

I look at him and smile to reassure him I am no one to worry about and say, “of course I’ll help you find your dad. Where did you last see your dad?” As I am waiting for him to answer I see the handsome young man underneath the features that comes with Down Syndrome.

“He went over there.” pointing down the street which we are now heading.

I tell him to come along so we can find his dad. We start walking down the street and he grabs my hand. I was not expecting him to hold my hand, but I must admit I was probably just as comforted by him as he was by allowing me lead him down the street. We walked about half a block before we came to a. intersection. While Park Street itself was closed to traffic, some of the crossing streets were open to traffic meaning the traffic signals must be obeyed.

As we are waiting for the light to change to green, the young man sees his father emerging from the crowd on the opposite side of the street. He yells excitedly, “Dad!”, then runs into his arms. I told his dad that he asked me if I would help him find and of course I said I would.

His dad looked at him and said, “son, I told you I would be right back and that I was going to get a beer”. He looked only mildly bothered. But his son only hugged him tighter, and his dad gave him a big hug back. His dad said, “thanks” with a smile and we are ready to continue our family stroll. Then the young man runs back to me gives me the biggest hug! It was brief, tight, and meaningful. Now he said, “thank you” quickly and ran back to his dad.

My family and I move along back to our stroll, and we waved goodbye as they moved the opposite way. The day was beautiful, I saw my old friend again at the other stage where we watched a mutual friend play with his Latin Jazz band. Yes, a beautiful day.

You may be asking what is the significance of that brief interaction? Are you humble bragging for helping a young man with Down Syndrome find his father?

I will get the significance shortly. It certainly is not a humble brag because I did not do anything special. I just tried to be kind and the type of man my father taught me to be. The significance, the lifelong impact, was this young man’s hug and how I felt that moment he gave me that big hug.

My experience is not easy to explain. It is an emotional moment for me. What I felt when he hugged me was love. More than love. I felt like an angel came to let me know everything would be alright. I feel like he gave me a spark, a spark of light, a spark of life.

All these years later, when I think about this moment and on the rare occasion I have spoken about this moment, a wave of emotions wash over me. The feeling is one of brightness, a feeling of security, a feeling of something special crossed my path that day and left its sweet residue on my soul.

When life is challenging, when I am struggling with my family, when my career slumps, when money seems to be distant, through the ups and downs of life, when life seems bleak, I can always turn to that moment and remember the innocence in his smile. His pure love for his dad. The love in that hug. The love in that hug never fails to set my mood right. He was my angel.