The place I'd rather be

** I attended a writing workshop last weekend. One of the exercises we did was imagine the one place we'd want to be and describe it in five minutes. This is what I came up with...

I lay back against the soaked chair. I close my eyes. Splashes of water hit my face and send chills from my neck down to the small of my back.

I open my eyes, they squint as the sharp rays of the sun send spears through my vision. I put my head down.

I adjust myself into a sitting position, look up and realize as I stare at the large, hairy, scantily clad figure standing before me that my eyes have now overcome the brightness.

The figure walks by. I continue to look beyond me. Over my bare stomach and legs. My toes shoved into the wet, white sand in front of me.

The roar of the water radiates in my ears as the damp seeps into the bottom of my bathing suit. It's hot, almost too hot, but the chill of the waves makes it easier for my body to relax. I collapse deeper into the chair.

My hand resting gently against the chair's plastic arm is touched. I feel the hard grasp wrap around my wrist.

I look over my shoulder at him sitting next to me. His eyes fixated on mine. His gaze glides down my body to my hand. His fingers now intertwined in mine.

I smile as I realize there's no other place I'd rather be.

** Now describe why the place is so special, so important...

This place is my serenity. I come here when I feel hurt, lonely, like nothing I do is worth even the slightest consideration.

It is a place to reflect. To help me understand who I am or who I long to be.

I am not yet 30. Although sometimes I feel as if I have already lived more than half the life I was meant to live.

My life feels empty. Unfulfilled. It's a feeling that the hectic nature of any week leaves me struggling with.

Here, there is no busy. There is no stress. No sorrow.