The Edge

Today, there were robins in my yard. They seemed busy and self-important, with their red chests puffed out and their impatient, hopping gait as they dug into the wet ground and grass. As if they knew something I didn't. They seemed to call to me: "Spring is here! Come outside!"

So, I did. Like a bear emerging from its dark winter den, I stood in my doorway and blinked in the warm Spring sunshine. No more darkness, no more cold, no more chilly wet. Just the first beautiful day that feels like "spring". A cool breeze tickling my face, the sunshine on my skin, and a sky that is big, blue, and never ending.

I saw the cherry tree in my front yard, full of buds that carry the promise of new life and cherry blossom snow. It won't be long now. Maybe only a matter of days before the first flowers burst forth to greet the changing season. My rosebushes, too, were full of new life, the branches turning from the brown of winter to the green of spring, and I could see fresh leaves, so new that they are still red, popping out of the branches.

My daughter made bubbles. She chased after them, her little legs pumping for all she was worth as she tried to catch them. They were too fast, but I heard her laughing -- laughing as she ran in the spring sunshine, her hair flying out behind her and her face upturned to the sun's warmth. I sat on the step in front of my house and watched her.

The bubbles floated away, shimmering their colors in the crisp spring air -- pink, green, and blue -- and flew away on the breeze, up into that big, blue sky. I watched as they hung there, solid and real. But, it was only for a moment, and then they were gone, almost like they had never existed.

And, I prayed. Maybe a mother's prayer, or, maybe, just a simple prayer -- that I would always remember this moment. That I would always remember this day. That, long years from now, I would close my eyes and see her in my mind, running with her face turned up to feel the sun's warmth on her skin, as if she didn't have a care in the world. That I would always hear her laughing, like music, under the big, blue sky.