a moment in time lying on the warm, damp sand I watch them, an old, gray dog on his favorite rug... Anna, Rhiannon, my little one... 16 months old, still learning the world, frightened by noises and strangers but here... she stomps in the puddles and laughs at the droplets, sits in the mud and grins, digging Anna-sized holes in the water and sand with those tiny, incredible fingers that hold my hand so tightly when we walk... Victoria... a 3-year-old wonder who rescues wiggling worms from the lake and buries them, carefully, in the dirt who knows quartz and agates and petrified wood who makes up songs and stories wandering down the beach with a branch drawing letters and pictures of cats and stopping to look at the shell of a clam glistening in the sun... and Alicia, my love, my lover... most magical of them all, the woman who gave me these miracles sitting there, eyes closed, listening to the wind and the waves and the laughter of children, blonde hair drifting gently in the breeze... it's all more than I ever dreamed of, more than I knew existed... surrounded by love and life and living, lying there in the warm, damp sand, I look at everything good in the world and smile... |