Sometimes all a kid needs

Sometimes all a kid needs to feel powerful and huge

                                                  is for somebody to see that he already is.



or, other times, maybe he needs
to climb on a tree and show his massive muscles, with the sun setting behind him

                                               
or maybe that's not what my son was doing, or feeling, or needing at all.

Maybe he was being a warrior, or a mountain lion, or just checking out the view
or dancing to the music in his head
or testing the muck beneath his boots
or something else entirely.

Maybe it was just me who had the need,
and seeing him so big -- and so little -- against the horizon,
through my camera lens
suddenly separate and far from me
and seeing him run there, his back to me,
watching how he fit into the natural world so perfectly.
Maybe really that was what I needed:
to see him like that
perfect, strong, independent, joyous
and then to see him run, again
back to me
to see how I had seen him

Or maybe it was just a happy day
and today is happy in the remembering of it