#arielrobyn

Through time and space your face appeared before me and I wanted to laugh with joy.  So long since we had spoken last, it was more than wonderful to talk again.

As all our communication goes, talking with you was easy and peaceful.  We spoke of futures and pasts and presents and all the plans we have. 

I like the sound of my laugh when I laugh with you.

Our time ended too quickly and was only slightly hindered by the fact you couldn’t see me, but it was special anyway.

I never realize how much I miss you until you’ve come and gone again.

That night, taking advice given to me long ago, I indulged in a little self love.  The water burned deliciously as I sank into the steaming gold water.  This was the bath of dreams; rich, luscious water that shimmered and shinned with thick, frothy bubbles, I was swimming in liquid sunshine and silk.

I lost myself then, in the pages of a novel that made me giggle and dream.  Minutes blurred into hours, and only once my toes were throughly pruned did I think to leave my cozy haven.

We swept through the forest like the breeze, quick as deer and thundering as loud as elephants.  We ran until we fell and then we kept going. Tumbling through ferns and landing on mossy carpeted floors, we ran wild and free.  Not even the rain falling in our eyes could keep back the unrestrained joy as we let go of everything. 

We ventured so far into our mossy wonderland that the world slipped away and all was lost but the simple truth; that this, the green world filled with the smells of rain and trees and the sounds of droplets falling and birds calling, was life in it’s most beautiful and basic form.

  That night, dried off and warmed after our romp in the woods, we made plans to learn about sophisticated things like coffee and wine; the sort of things fancy women always seem to know about.  We didn’t consider ourselves to be fancy, quite the opposite really, but like all little girls, we liked to play dress up and make believe.  We spoke together over cups of mango green tea and fuzzy pajama pants with thick woolen socks, and we giggled as we tried to imagine living a sophisticated life.  It occurred to me then, that I had been wrong before.  Running through that lush forest, I did not find life in it’s most beautiful form.  I only found a tiny fraction of life out there.  

The city was whirling with activity as the bus ambled it’s way into the center of everything.  People dressed in shorts and dresses, out soaking in the sun like lizards on rocks, dotted every available surface of the town. 

My special corner, a cafe with good coffee and free refills, was packed to the brim with customers, clawing for something cool to drink.  

Norwegians are not by nature, warm weather people.

I ordered a cold drink that was served to me in a wine glass with a straw, and found a corner to tuck into.  The booth was big and soft and the small round table nestled in it was the perfect surface for me to get lost on.

And get lost I did. 

I opened my journal, a red camel skinned beauty with a big yellow eye, a dragon, keeping all my secrets and stories guarded and safe.  My pen picked up where it had last ended a week ago, and I was off, running in a world not my own.  I was swept into the mind of a girl who had suffered more loss than I could fathom, who was lost in ways I couldn’t understand, and who had hope despite it all, that made me proud.  

I walked with her, a shadow in her story as I watched it bit by bit unveil itself to me.  

Her world was beautiful and tragic and so precious it made me cry.

Three hours later, I was jolted out of her story when my pen ran out of ink.  I was back in my corner, in my comfortable booth, a glass of iced coffee sitting patiently beside me.

Regretfully, I closed my journal, binding it shut and stroked the dragon’s eye affectionately.