Sun-kissed Sierra (The Writing Impact Challenge)

Sun-kissed Sierra

For that one moment, time stood in pause as through a window pane I glanced; almost forgetting to breathe I was frozen with the enchanting vision before me. Long, brown, wavy hair with shimmering golden tips blew delicately in the warm spring wind. She sat strumming an invisible guitar and singing a song I didn’t need to actually hear as it was visibly the rhythm of joy. I watched her lips move to the happiest, most innocent masterpiece. Indulging completely in the moment, the rest of my existence dispersed into the background. A pure, simple stage in her childhood and equally an uncomplicated, chaos-free instance in my adult realm. It’s challenging to explain the emotions I felt, harder still to interpret how something can pleasantly captivate you and painfully disrupt you at once. A twinge in my chest and a tear down my cheek, I saw myself as a child, quite literally, a small version of who I once was before I would grow and conceive her. Knowing she has only begun her journey through life, I wondered where it would take her. What challenges will she overcome and could I properly prepare her for the enormity of the world she has before her? She stood up and joyfully skipped away to play just out of my sight which broke my deep-in-thought spectatorship.

After I walked away, I found myself back at that same window only moments later. I had prepared lunch and went to call them inside. I walked briskly toward the door but almost tripped to a halt with my next fortunate observation.

I saw her again, this time sitting side by side with her older brother. He was intently listening as she confided in him. She spoke as though recalling a story that seemed so important to her that it required broad hand gestures and facial expressions to properly convey. Not a smile to be had between them, a seemingly serious encounter of two young minds. It is seldom they truly listen to each other but in this instance, she had her big brother’s undivided attention and focus. Would he offer his pearls of wisdom to her or merely the help of an open ear? To this day I’m blissfully unaware of what that conversation entailed. It was a precious, private moment that only a little sister and a big brother could have. All I can hope as their mother is that they will have many more.

There I sat, comforted by the warmth of the same sun, abandoning my freshly poured coffee. Pen in hand, feverishly scrolling almost illegibly, I transferred the feelings onto the paper. I hoped that if I wrote those precious moments down, they would forever be etched in my heart and mind in all their stunning glory. All the while my soul was well aware that I will remember and cherish this always.