Tracks melting in the sun

Connected steel
Dorval, QC
June 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: The @viarail train station near Montreal's airport. Travellers swelter on the crumbling asphalt platform under a brilliant late-morning sun as they wait for the Toronto-bound train to pull in. Departing planes cross the brilliant blue sky so closely that we can practically see the pilots' faces through the flight deck windows.

Our two youngest are heading home today. They have their own lives, jobs, responsibilities back in London, and not even one family's grief stops the rest of the world from doing its thing.

Big brother Zach and his fiancee Michaela have come along for the drop-off because that's what the Levy Sibling Squad - the delightfully close group formed by our kids and their significant others - does. They banter endlessly with each other while they wait, the sound of their effortless conversation like music to my exhausted ears. They're wonderful kids. I'm not biased.

Noah watches me closely as I raise my camera, approach the platform's edge and size up the scene way down the track. The yellow safety line is set comfortably back from the track, but he nevertheless warns me to keep my feet well behind it. "I'll text Mom right now," he says with a smile on his voice. He's a sweet, caring boy.

He's also very correct - Debbie has taught him well - so I of course obey before quickly snagging this shot. Almost immediately, the train materializes out the heat-distorted air, and the kids say their final goodbyes.

None of this has been easy for them, but they've navigated the week with a grace that's prompted friends and strangers alike to gush about them to us. They've been our light amid darkness, and watching them share their final words in a tight, spontaneous group hug makes me realize, again, how lucky we are to have them.

This picture? It's just a snapshot to freeze this moment in place. Because moments like this, in the end, are everything.

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