As I look out into the bay; brisk ocean breeze stinging my cheeks and nostrils slightly dripping; I close my tear-glazed eyes and imagine life as it was a year ago. Slowly, my mind begins to tune out the busy sounds of traffic and fast-paced life; where the world never stops and everyone has some place to get to, some place they need to be.
As I listen to the jingles of collars while the dogs play, I imagine standing in the middle of a field, with nothing but trees and farm-life surrounding me. I focus in on the sounds of the wind and the chirping from cold-weather birds making their winter homes among the brush along the trunks of our hibernating, colorless trees.
As I shuffle my feet back and forth in the soft, cold sand, I allow my mind the nostalgia for red dirt, forever staining my hand-me-down boots, leaving a pleasant shade of rusty orange, similar to the weeds traveling up the shore from in-coming tides of the sea.
All is still and quiet as I let my day-dreams simply be. A thousand miles have come and gone, 12 months of wisdom instilled in me. Returning now to the present moment, filled with peace from this tranquil memory.