Claiming My Voice: From the darkness, the light emerges.

A couple of years ago I was walking the dog in my neighborhood. About a block from my home, I passed by a house where there was a little boy sitting cross legged just inside the fence to his driveway. Inside the house adults were screaming at one another. Outside the house this little boy looked at me with such pain and pleading, and it broke my heart.

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him. Mostly because I stopped walking there. This year I got a new puppy and got to walk the old familiar loop.

All summer long he has been out in the front yard playing by himself when we pass by. I always smile at him. He always looks away. He is always by himself; Usually in shorts that are too small for him and no shirt.

This week school started and on my walk today, he was not there. I am ashamed at how much relief I have that he was not there. I am relieved that my heart is not breaking for him; which it always does. I am relieved that my imagination does not run away with me at the wondering what his life is like.