“YAH! Batman is about to land on a bad guy! Psshhh! Bam! Whoa! He wins!”.
Connie looks down at the seat next to her. In it, is a blond-haired, big brown-eyed, energetic and expressive little boy, who could hardly contain himself in the airplane seat, while his mother tried to catch a few Z’s. “The flight to Salt Lake City is going to be a remake of some Marvel comic characters mixed with oodles of 3-year old sound effects”, she thinks to herself.
She is drawn back from her thoughts when she hears the little boy say, “We’re going up to the sky!” and looks at him again, only to discover that he had the cutest dimples and he was talking to her. Shaking herself out of the thoughts that weighed her down, she allows herself to be drawn into this little boy’s world. While she was thinking all these things to herself, the little boy had been jabbering away. At times, he was mimicking explosion sounds; at times, talking to Batman himself; and at times, explaining to her what his superhero was about to do next.
“What’s your name?” she asks. He looks up at her with these gorgeous brown eyes, framed by very long eyelashes (not fair, she thinks) and says, “William”. She notices that he is wearing a blue t-shirt with Spiderman on it. “Who’s your favorite?”, she says, pointing to both superheroes, curious to know which one he would pick. He seems to think about it for a minute, focused with eyebrows strained, and says, ” Batman AND Spiderman!”. “Ha. What did I expect? In William’s world, he could have two superheros and they could both exist happily, even though one was on his t-shirt and the other was fairly beaten up from frequent use.”, she thought to herself. In fact, it didn’t seem to bother William, that his Batman’s cape had a gaping hole in it, thereby rendering him aeronautically handicapped; neither did he seem to care that his Batman’s black face mask had begun to show bits of grey, which was the color of his body.
His Batman could fly (when William would grab him in his fingers and making flying noises and moving the toy in all directions), make things explode, beat up bad guys and the whole time, William’s focus was on this little toy Batman. Connie was fascinated by this devotion and childlike faith that good can overcome bad.
The plane flies over a body of water. William catches this out of the corner of his eye and nearly jumps out of his seat, screaming, “Look! Water down there!”, repeatedly. Connie looks in the direction that he is pointing in and see the water. The ground is blanketed in light snow, and here and there, some white hilltops covered in snow. She realizes that it has been a long time since she just stopped and looked at nature around her. She marvels at the beauty she was missing, as if it is the first time she can see. She is amazed at how calm and serene it looks; how she seems to hover in place, suspended in time. Slowly, she exhales – breathing out in one long, silent breath, all the hurt and pain she had been feeling inside, and had carried with her for a very long time. It had created a wall around her heart, numbing her feelings. She inhales, as she is just beginning to breath, allowing the air (albeit the airplane cabin-pressured kind) to fill the cracks and crevices of her mind and soul.
It is exactly one year ago that she had lost her baby boy to leukemia. He had been the light of her life, and when he died, the light was turned off abruptly and Connie retreated into the darkness. No amount of coaxing and cajoling, pleading, encouraging or even threatening, drew her out of her dark hole. Her life was over. She is flying to Salt Lake City, to spend Christmas with her family. Why? She does not know. All she knows is that she has to do something. Her sister seemed to call her at the right time, and she surprised herself by saying yes to the invitation for Christmas.
Suddenly, she realizes that it has gotten really quiet in the seat next to her. Her airplane buddy, William, has tired both himself and his superhero, and they are both fast asleep, sprawled out across his seat holding a blue blanket tightly. As Connie looks down at William’s peaceful face, a sweet feeling came over her and brought tears to her eyes. She turns away and looks out the window, thinking about another little boy, who was born in a manger, with all the animals around him, and his mother gazing at him, unable to believe what had just come to pass. This little boy was also animated about his superhero – his father in heaven, and wanted to tell everyone about him and all the great things he could do. This little baby boy brought peace and love into this world, and Connie realizes, if she lets him in, he could do the same for her.
Tears pouring down her face, she silently thanks God for opening her heart and releasing all her pain and anguish; for gathering her up in his warm embrace. She thanks God for caring enough about her to send a little boy to do what all the adults in her life had failed to do – to help her know of His love for her. With a smile in her eyes and a prayer of gratitude in her heart, she is thrilled to have her own little Christmas miracle.
Merry Christmas!
