Where do you wish you could be? I wish I could be at the place where I can feel the warm sun on my body. Where I can lay on the long blue chairs and relax and think about how much I’ll miss this place when I have to leave. Where I can feel the chill of the ocean breeze on my skin, with the large umbrellas over top of the chairs guarding me from the burning sun that likes to make me a light shade of red. I can feel the soft pale sand digging into the crevices of my toes.

 In some areas of the sand, there are small shells that are as pointy as a rock. The crashing waves become a background noise that makes me feel sleepy. Around me are people of all ages. Some are playing in the soft sand. Some are playing in the rolling waves that swirl around them like a whirlpool. The rest are just laying under the bright sun that beats down on them.

You may be asking yourself, what am I doing?  Imagine me suited up in my new vibrant royal blue athletic tank and bikini bottom. This is my first time wearing it because at home the weather is horrible. It’s as if the world is falling away on us. It’s the coldest months of winter. The air is frigid and cuts straight to my bone and hard to shake. Totally opposite from this cozy oasis. I could stay her forever.

When I look down, sitting in my lap is a treasure that is as valuable as family. When it’s first looked at, it looks like it’s in tatters and very un-appealing. If you take a closer look though, it’s a whole new world. Once upon a time, it was as beautiful as brand new. Now it appears to be as broken as ice when it just begins to melt. But to me, this treasure is my whole being. My treasure is as wonderful as a sun in the middle of the coldest months, with its words spilling over the papers and inviting you to come join it for a twist. There is so much potential, even though it’s as old as the first sign of nature.

 It’s as light as a feather but also as hard as a rock. Its new book smell has never gone. The paper is as crisp and crinkly as the autumn leaves being crunched down in the park. The suspense of what could happen holds you in place with the many possibilities. If it pulls you in, then you will most likely end up reading it until early in the morning, like me. For me, there’s nothing like a good thriller to fly me away into my own world. Once transported, everything else fades into subconsciousness. All I can see are the words staring up at me from the beautiful pages. I can hear the rhythm of my heart thumping like the beat of a drum. As I turn the pages with careful fingers, it’s as if the pages steal my heart away. This is what my perfect day looks like: here at the beach with the soft waves crashing down on the shoreline, reading an old book; this is where I wish that I could always be.