play Evergreen by Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners while listening

The wind whistles through my hair as I whoop and cheer, a grin splitting my face in two. I can’t remember the last time I'd felt this free.

Next to me, my best friend, my lover, my favorite person in the whole world smiles as well, but keeps his eyes on the road- a long, winding path, sandwiched between a lush forest and sparkling beach. This is what we do on days we feel trapped. We make ourselves a little slice of freedom, speeding along a road only nature knows about. It’s a break from the concrete cities and repetitive houses where society likes to live. I close my eyes, letting the wind caress my face in such a loving manner I almost cry. Sometimes I wish I could feel like this forever, racing through the world, only me and the other part of my soul. The sun paints the sky purples and pinks and oranges more vibrant than anything you could manufacture, because it’s real, it’s not made by humans, it’s just a part of our wonderful world. The lonely road we take is old but somehow still as smooth as it was when it was first made because it was forgotten, left to become one with the world again. I wonder if we’re the only ones who remember it, and if our kids will feel the same. Maybe this will be something only our family and the ons closest to use will know, a bookish scene where the loner kid finds the person he truly loves and shows them this beautiful secret, kept for years by his family so they can tell others how maybe everything will be okay, how could it not when this magnificent world is still capable of showing us we are here, we are part of this world, of the lush green trees, the rich dirt, flowering bushes and the wildflowers that flourish in every color imaginable. The blue waters whose waves are capped with white foam that looks almost like clouds, of the rocks that have been polished by years and years of erosion, the seaglass that’s cloudy and clear and red and blue and green and every other color, stained glass that belongs to the ocean. This is my secret, our secret, but in reality it’s only one tiny part of the world. It’s only a glimpse of the glamor nature creates, only a whisper of the truth. 

And the truth is, the world is beautiful.