long ago day

I am three, maybe
I am walking in the rain
with my Dad
in Eugene.
He is young, still healthy.
Still alive.
I am jumping in puddles
wearing rubber boots
jumping with such glee
that the memory lingers
all these long years later.
Later, my finger gets stuck in an elevator door
a metal gate-like monstrosity
my universe explodes with pain.
How tangled, how intertwined:
Joy and pain
tight as a toddler's hug.
And all, on a single morning
so long ago
on a walk in the rain 
with my Dad.