LAST NIGHT...was the first time in months I didn’t sleep with the AC on. The rain was performing in the night air and demanded to be noticed. With the overhead fan on and the sound of the rain and wind, I opened my window and fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke, the rain had stopped its show, and I lay there, very early—another thing I hadn’t done in months—and just reflected. Reflected on the day ahead. The week ahead. The semester ahead. My plans of travel and the long weekend. And a certain breeze not only passed through my window but through my body. It felt like breath.
I’m not a morning person. I like the nights. I like staying up late when the cars stop roaring and the stars come out. I like to sit with a good TV series and then climb up to bed to meet my latest book characters and forget who I am for a little while, let the responsibilities of life fade into the background of “that can wait,” before I take my ride with Morpheus, where dreams are unencumbered by expectation, and where I have no control of what happens there. It feels like freedom, even if only for that one second before I slip and enter the world I won’t likely remember but know anything is possible. I’d forgotten how wonderful the morning is. How quiet it is then too, before the bustle starts and the stress kicks in and the noise takes over. It’s a perfect time to write. To meditate. And spend time in the moment. And in this moment, I saw the trees, still wet from the night’s spectacle, but the leaves blowing gently against each other in harmony, a couple of big oaks seemingly in love. Within the leaves I stared, and like that old Magic Eye book or when I stare for long periods of time at the clouds, I saw a kiss in those leaves, a face I wanted to capture—a side profile of eyes, a nose, hair blowing back, and lips, lips kissing the leaves next to it. I thought to myself, I’m just seeing things, and yet, still, I wanted to get my phone and snap a picture to prove it to you, to see if you saw it too, to show you how real it was, the trees in an embrace, kissing one another. But I stopped myself. This was my moment, what I felt and saw and knew was real. And I realized, it didn’t matter who believed me or who might have seen it too or who thought I was foolish. It was my waking dream, whether fabricated or not: Those leaves loved each other. And I realized: Isn’t that all any of us want? To be kissed? In the morning when no one else knows, when the only thing that matters is that we know we were kissed, that we know: We are loved. And that’s what being alive feels like, the gift of morning. And I'm happy for it.
16 Comments
R.B.
9/14/2021 08:34:03
Thank you for reading and commenting, Rachel! Always appreciated!
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Jay
9/2/2021 14:07:06
I can’t see my comments.
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:35:11
Hi, Jay!
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Kay
9/2/2021 15:16:00
Mushrooms? :) !!!!!
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:35:49
Haha! No but sometimes gummies. LOL!
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:36:27
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I appreciate you reading and commenting!
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Michael
9/4/2021 16:31:32
I'm a night person too but it's more because of my job than by choice.
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:37:15
Thank you, Michael!
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Kaaren ALLEN
9/4/2021 18:57:07
Really thoughtful and inciteful. I am a night person
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:38:13
Thank you so much for the comment. I realize there's nothing earth-shattering in here, but I'm so glad you connected with it! Much appreciated.
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:38:46
Thank you for connecting!
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Astrid
9/7/2021 12:35:45
A nice read, insights into your mind & world. I'm a night person too.
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R.B.
9/14/2021 08:39:38
Thank you so much, Astrid. I'm glad you connected with the short piece. I've missed writing them!
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I LOVE to write and read. I particularly enjoy reading erotic romance that has tons of emotion in it. I hope you will ask me questions and share your favorite authors and novels. I welcome all feedback.
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