Summer Memories

In the light of the setting sun of the final day of the most perfect summer, the water struggled to grab the last of the scarce rays still settling over the surface. I walked along the shoreline, feeling the wet sand squish between my toes and breathing in the salty air wafting from the all too perfect ocean.

    Again and again the waves lapped at my ankles and splashed delicately against my calves, sending goose bumps all throughout my body despite the warmth of the still-summer air. The wind spoke to me as a long lost friend, waiting for us to be reunited. It wrapped around my arms and legs like a silk ribbon, whipping my hair around my head, stinging my face like a host of needles, but didn't cause pain.

    In the distance I could just barely make out the place I had spent most of every summer with my dad. It was a lookout onto the ocean with a cover at the end for the days we would spend hours fishing. I remember seeing a shark weave its way throughout the support beams and steal my dad's "prize catch".

    As the final bit of the sun slipped slowly passed the salty water, I was left with nothing but the gentle illumination of the full moon, glowing brightly in contrast to the tiny stars pinpointing the blackened sky. I stopped at the wooden dock, my arms wrapped around myself to try to keep warm. As I walked towards the small lantern forever burning and hanging from the ceiling, I heard the creek of the old wood wanting to give way, but never dreaming of it. I rested my folded arms on the beam that faced out into the vast water and leaned my head against the wooden vertical post. I closed my eyes, trying to take it all in, remembering how happy I was every time I would beet my dad in our “biggest fish” contests.

      Behind me, a much softer and more frequent pitter-patter run across the planks, leaving the wood too fast before it had time to creak. I jolted forward just a bit as a little pair of arms wrapped around my leg, and a soft giggle that warmed my heart. Behind those steps was yet another, but these ones much slower; but still so strong. After only a few seconds, I felt his hand slip into mine before he pulled me into an embrace that warmed my body. It only took a soft whimper for the little girl to be picked up into her fathers arms.

    “Let’s go home Sarah,” he whispered into my ear. He put my precious child down and gave me a short kiss, smiling as he pulled away.

    I took one last look at the beautiful, shining ocean before I took my daughter’s hand in my own as she led the way away from the dock, her other hand in that of that strong man I fell so deeply in love with and have been in love with since we met.

    Leaving the spot that had been my only memory when I was a child, I kept the two things — the two people — that warmed my heart and body alike.