June 10, 2023

An afternoon in Danbury…the massage therapist comes to the house and speaks to me directly in Portuguese and I answer, ‘yes’. She is encouraged to continue and I nod and make some sense of it all, a few words hanging on here and there and close to Spanish. It really doesn’t matter. The connection is stronger than any linguistic concerns; women, aches and back issues, strengths and weaknesses, the love of lavender…

The two dogs yip and yap, falling all over each other in their furry enthusiasm and we smile at each other. All the world loves crazed, happy, jumping, joyful canines.

I smell the lavender and the incense upstairs and she is still talking and has headed off to set up her table. I catch her final words as she mounts the stairs…’praise God’ in Portuguese and I answer in Spanish and in English. We’re good. We understand each other from a thousand miles and a lifetime apart.

I quiet the dogs and we settle down; with my book in my lap and her efforts at the table and the rooms awash in scent…