Aware of that Moment

We were all posing on the big statue of St. Louis outside of the Art Museum. Lucia was taking our picture, her back to a wide expanse of Forest Park in fall colours. She looked lovely. There was laughter. I was incredibly aware of that moment - it wasn't simply a sensation of taking a snapshot, or a memory. I was incredibly aware of being right there, right then. Of how in two months Esther and Amy will leave. Of how the six of us shall never meet again by the statue of St. Louis. Of how Allan will leave soon, too. Of how beautiful the fall colours were, of how they change with every day. Of how even Lucia and my time together, which once seemed limitless, will not last forever. Lucia was taking our picture, but I was taking hers, I was taking a picture of all of us, I was thinking about the wide expanse of time before and after, how strange, how arbitrary that I was living this now and soon wouldn't be. And Lucia lowered the camera and started walking towards us, and I fell back into time.