Forever young

I know what it feels like, that sense of slowing down, of going back to childhood. When everything's right and the morning's young, when the sun shines and there's a warm, fluffy body pressed against my own, hidden under the covers. Everything's easy, everything's quiet, not a worry now the world's barely awake. It's hard to open the eyes and greet a new day, when you're like that, so close to heaven.

It's in the silence at night, in the river rushing nearby and the insects singing under the window. All those moments that envelope you in that sense of calmness that's almost mystical, all the memories it brings to the front of your mind, memories of a howling wolf at dusk and endless days under the blazing sun, burning slowly and eating lemon popsicles. Of that dwell, the fish in the tank and hiding away from the elder people, making sparks out of stones. When everything and anything was possible to you if someone double dared you.

Visit nan on saturdays, and now it doesn't feel like a chore. There's warmth in the hugs and protection from the world. No longer a need to say cheese for the family portrait, smiles are easy, kids just make it happen. Walks down the river, not a fantasy anymore, though I'm still pretending I'm that fairy. And it's all so easy when you realize there is a bigger picture. Something I knew as a child, there is a whole world out there, out of my reach only if I don't reach out for it.

And reach out, I dare do now, now that all the missing pieces have been found.


Listening to: Snow Angel (Tori Amos)