My daughter loves to write. I always told her writing and photography go hand in hand. She’s attending college majoring in Communications. I’ve been trying to get her to submit one of her papers to my blog. She finally agreed. So this is her article.
All I remember was that I was definitely supposed to be in school, and you were supposed to be driving me there…. But I knew the way to school and we were not going that way.
We ended up going through a canyon. I would look out the window and see the mountainous mountains above. The sun peaking through the mountain tops. The cars one in the back of the other, but still moving at a fast pace. Where were we going? School was miles away…we had been driving for 20 minutes and school was 6 minutes away from our house. I was going to ask “where were we going” but you were the type of person who never gave a straight answer. I knew I had to just sit and wait until we arrived at our destination.
I remember listening to James Taylor. “In my mind I’m going to Carolina. Can’t you just see the sunshine? Can’t you just feel the moonshine? Ain’t it just like a friend of mine, to hit me from behind? Yes I’m going to Carolina in my mind…” You always loved James Taylor. I could never put my finger on why. He seemed like a country artist with a cool acoustic guitar. You never seemed like the type to enjoy the calming spirit of James Taylor. But I always loved that surprise and spontaneity about you. It reminds me of why I listen to the music I listen to today. Calm, Folk, Indie acoustic music. The kind of music that makes you want to just want to hear silence, the music, and the waves of the beach crashing down on the world.
The sun was going in and out…. kind of like when you can’t make up your mind if you want the teriyaki or the mandarin chicken at Panda Express. It was flipping and flopping through the clouds. It was annoying because we had the windows down and it would be sunny one moment and cloudy the next. It was getting colder as we drove along, and I didn’t have my red cardigan with my school emblem on it because it was sunny and warmer where we lived.
We ended up at the beach and there were not too many kids there…. I had no idea we were going to the beach. It was gloomy out too. I thought…who goes to the beach when it’s gloomy? But of course the answer was simple…. My dad.
The sky was darkened by the clouds and we ate ice cream in the sand on that black, white, and grey patterned Mexican blanket you always keep in your car. I wanted to go in the water, but we only touched it with our feet. And I was in my uniform for school…. For some weird reason that’s all I remember about the entire day. I don’t remember leaving the beach. I don’t remember what you said or your reason for taking the day off and escaping to the beach. I don’t even remember if I went to school after the morning passed….
I knew you spontaneously took me away from school and to the beach just to spend a day with me…..I knew that you thought I would look back on this day and remember how we spent time together, how you pulled me out of school and we went to the beach while it was gloomy. We ate ice cream on a Mexican blanket and put our feet in the water wearing our work/school clothes. I wasn’t 5 you know……just 6.
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