T is for Tower

 

Source: Me, taken at The CN Tower in Toronto

She exhaled, looked down, and froze.  She’d been dismissive standing in the queue downstairs.  Even disdainful, laughing at his attempt to cheer her.  Like seeing a view would fix things.  But standing there over a thousand feet above the ground, she couldn’t help but feel a little better.

“You know, I gotta hand it to you,” she said, folding her arms, “this is something.”

“Hey, at the very least you got outside today, right?” he said, putting an arm around her.

“Doesn’t fix anything, though.”

“I know” he said, pulling in her a little bit closer and sliding his other arm around her to enclose her in a sideways hug.  “But it helps.”

“Why is that?’ she wondered aloud, letting herself lean into him as she stood there staring down the endless expanse to the tower’s base.

He was quiet for minute and she looked over to see his mouth making that bemused expression that always reminded her of a little boy stomping his feet.  She smiled in spite of her mood, she couldn’t help it.

“I don’t know,” he finally said.  “Perspective, I guess.”

“Perspective, huh?”  She looked down again and let that feeling swallow her.  The one she got when moments like this happened.  Like so much more was possible than she could foresee from this point in her life.  And even though life was down there waiting for her with all of its problems and impassable barriers, she was meant for more.

“Feel better?” he asked, giving her a squeeze.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling.  “Thanks.”