I met Santa Claus.
I don’t mean I chatted with a mall Santa or gave coins to a well-meaning bell ringer. I mean, I met Santa — THE Santa. In fact, I see him all the time.
I was suffering from a concussion and sitting in a laundromat. Sometimes life does you dirty and you’ve got to clean up, no matter how great the headache. Renee, a fellow clothes washer, was bubbly and hoping for a laundry buddy. She was washing her baby’s cloth diapers because, as she explained, her daughter’s pee output was more than her diaper stash could hold.
I couldn’t match her energy or keep up with her flow of words, so I excused my near silence, explaining I had taken a fall and banged my head. She switched mothering modes to focus on me. She gave me concussion care tips and must have listened to Roger and me talking about dwindling supplies of pain relief because she left the laundromat and came back with a Tylenol. Instead of going home to be the first person her baby saw when she woke from her nap, Renee went to the pharmacy to get me a pain reliever.
She wouldn’t take any money. She saw the opportunity to help and took it. Her thought, action, and the result were all gifts.
Now that’s Santa.
He’s mingling among us, in one form or another, in all the places we find love. I can’t always pick him out of a crowd, but I know he’s there.
And it makes sense. How can he possibly tell what’s really going on in the world if he’s not participating? That naughty-nice algorithm doesn’t adjust itself. (I have it on good authority Santa hasn’t adopted AI to manage these precious calculations.) It’s up to him to keep up with changing social and cultural norms.
Thank goodness Santa isn’t a seasonal being. His power works in any month so he can show up when we need it and sprinkle magic into our lives. He gives us the boost we need to keep believing.
I met Santa on a long flight. Our flight attendant had what would have been a debilitating stutter for someone with less magic. But he deals with the public for a living, speaks four languages, and, even when his words aren’t easy to understand, his spirit is strong and clear.
Luck of the draw put us together going and coming back, and when we boarded our return flight, we hugged like old friends. He stuffed bottles of champagne in our seat pockets and, when he went through the cabin to pass out bite-size chocolates, one per passenger, handfuls of candy rained into our laps.
I’m still finding candy in the crevices of my purse, and I hope there’s one lost in there, tucked out of sight, so I can stumble upon it and smile long after this moment slips my mind.
I’ve learned that things aren’t always easy or obvious, so living well takes patience and finding treasures takes a second look. Some of the very best things require faith in all we can’t see.
Santa orchestrated quite a color concert, directing the northern lights over Maine. Twice this year they’ve glittered where they don’t normally, bathing our house in holiday colors.
I’m going to take a walk under the beaver moon tonight and marvel that the moon seems close enough to touch.
I can’t see magnetic fields or the Earth’s or moon’s orbits, but I see the stunning results.
I can’t see gravity, and clearly it doesn’t always work to my advantage, but I can trust it’s there.
I can’t see Wi-Fi but my email works (unless it’s too windy, but that’s another story), and when I send this article to the Anchor’s editor, I have faith it will get there.
And I have deep faith in the future, in hope, and in healing.
I will not spend all my days watching the spin cycle, recovering from a tumble. I know without a doubt, when life does me dirty, a helping hand will reach out. I just need to pay attention.
I saw Santa on social media. His magic sent Rebecca Solnit’s words my way just when I needed a reminder to extend faith to myself.
She knows the resources of our heart and soul are as important as the resources we can see. We should have faith in both and in each other because we’re in this together. She wrote, “The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.”
We do our best. We heal and move on. The future is busy weaving my destiny and yours. I have faith in that beautiful tapestry.
Because Santa’s in it with us, and he keeps showing up.
