shoulders

While looking over my last post, I noticed Brandon’s shoulders. They are almost non-existent: his neck flowing into his torso like the slats of an “A.” And maybe this is because I am a writer and always looking for symbolism, but I thought about how shoulders show us how much we can carry, like an ox with a yoke. I thought about Brandon’s emotional fragility and then, as all parents with more than one child do, I compared him to his brother.

I began this frantic quest to look at shoulders. I scrolled through my Instagram photos, zeroing in on shoulders. I found Holden’s to be more like the curves of an “m.” And I thought about how Holden doesn’t cry for much and isn’t as sensitive and doesn’t feel so passionately and urgently. Shoulders, I thought. It’s all about the shoulders. 

I thought back to my post about prana and how we are given loads we can carry and I thought maybe Brandon won’t have too much of a load, then. Maybe he will zip through life without many troubles or woes. And that was a good thought, until I thought about Holden with his ox-like shoulders. Then I thought that would mean Holden will have a heavy load, and that wasn’t such a good thought. But he will be strong enough for it.

And then I hoped that it really is true, that we are only given loads we are strong enough to carry. I hope my A-shouldered boy lets his troubles slip right down those slopes and I hope that Holden can heave his troubles over the m-shaped humps. That was five days ago and I’m still noticing shoulders.