I've just come back from posting a letter at our post box (where else!) and witnessed one of those many private moments of great historical significance that go on un-seen in our lives day by day. They happen all around us and every-so-often I'm sure we all notice them, but none of us really SEE them. By that I mean, we can never fully understand their true significance.....what has gone on before the event, what emotions are caught up in it, how the people there feel about it, how the people who aren't there feel about it.
This little event happened 5 doors up the road from me. An elderly couple were moving out of their house. I saw the old man put the last suitcase in his "crowded to the roof" boot and force the door shut. I saw his wife come out of the house and, struggling NOT to look back, close the door behind her. I imagine this will be the last time she will walk out of this house and shut the door. Closing the door on all the history, the family events, the laughing and, I'm sure, crying. I imagine they will have had children who, although not there to see, will also be thinking about that last door closing.
There was no one else there to see all this. I happened, by chance of having to post a letter, to be cycling by. 10 minutes earlier, 5 minutes later I wouldn't have seen it. No one else saw it and so, I'm sure, it would not be in many other people's minds. Yet it was still a momentous occasion in their lives. We've all had them and most of them have been unobserved, but we all know how we've felt.
I remebered this when I saw those two and I wonder where they are now?
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