The Need

Waiting at the bus stop.
Shiny new shoes.
A pressed pair of shorts.
A crisp collared shirt.
And a backpack full of all the nonsense the teacher told you to buy.
You look the part.
Heck, you feel the part.
But there’s this nervousness that’s bursting inside you.
Will they like me?
I mean will they really like me?
I sure hope they like me.
The future of a thousand playdates rests on this first day.
And it doesn’t really change much from here.
Shifting in an office chair.
Will they hire me?
On one knee hoping.
Will she say she loves me?
Sending them on that very school bus.
Will they even need me?
We beg for love from the moment we tie our shoes until
we wither away to nothing in a hospital bed.
We are needy.
Crying out for attention
Longing for affection.
Hopeless shipwrecks that have washed up on shore.
But we are united in this need.
It’s not just some of us who are like this.
It is tied to the human condition.
The want, no, the need to be loved.
I saw a little boy get on the bus today.
He had his shoes tied up so tight and I thought, there
goes another circle in motion.
Another loop in a long chain.
But for some reason today, it made me smile.