Love in the Mirror

Morning light reaches the hallway mirror and lays a golden square across the floor.

The breakfast table waits in the next room. Steam rises from the coffee. Strawberries shine in a blue bowl. Warm bread rests beneath a clean towel, and yellow flowers lean toward the fresh light of the morning.

I place one more chair at the table. I straighten the flowers. I carry a jar of jam ~ jelly? ~ from the kitchen and set it where everybody can reach.

Then I return to the hallway.

The sun touches the edge of my face in the mirror. I place one hand over my heart and meet my own eyes.

I say it again, slowly ~

“I see myself.”

I smile at that man in the glass. I see his open face, his steady hands, and the morning he is ready to share. Love is already here. It lives in my breath, in this home, and in the warmest of welcomes waiting at the door.

“I deserve love, and so do all the people around me.”

The words fill the hallway. They travel into the dining room and settle at every place around the table.

The doorbell rings.

I open the door, and the morning grows bigger.

Friends and family arrive carrying fruit, flowers, bread, and stories. I accept everything with both hands. I receive every hug with gusto. I look into every face and deliver the biggest smiles. I am so very grateful for the people in my life.

“I see you.”

Bags rest beside the door. Another chair joins the table. Coffee pours. Bread passes from hand to hand. Someone opens the window, and a soft breeze moves through the flowers. The scent wafts in ~ life itself.

A friend settles into the sunniest chair and starts telling an animated story. I set down the coffee pot and sit close. I listen to every word. I hear what they say, and what they don’t say!

Their eyes brighten as the story starts to get good, and their laughter becomes our laughter.

We share the morning.

Soon the whole table is talking and laughing. A spoon rings softly against a cup. Someone reaches across the table for jam. Someone offers the last strawberry to the person beside them.

Hands meet, voices rise, and the room is generous. So generous, so full.

The best parts flash across the hallway mirror ~ A face passes with a plate of toast. Two people lean together, smiling. Someone lifts a cup and takes a deep, thirsty, delicious sip of OJ.

The morning illuminates our communion.

I carry a fresh pot of coffee through the hallway and look into the mirror again.

My face is there among the faces I love. We share the same table, the same breakfast, the same beautiful morning. The mirror holds a portrait of belonging.

I meet our eyes in the glass.

I see us. I see us together. We are so happy.

“I see myself.”

“I deserve love, and so do all the people around me.”

“I see you.”

“The light in me recognizes the light in all other beings.”

“I see us. I see us together. We are so happy.”