La Bella Vita

It has defined me for the last 5 years of my life. The sheet of cool breeze that touches my face every morning, the small beads of sweat that formulate on my lower back, the squeaky chirps of the birds only heard when the sun wakes up. The rhythm that my feet initiate, travels up my legs and into my hips. The cadence my body marches to is familiar and safe. My core remains stable as I trod along sand, dirt, rock, and road. My bedroom is like a jail cell. I sit in it waiting for the sun to come up, so my body can loosen itself in the form it knows best. I lie horizontally for what feels like centuries, and when the smallest peak of light creeps through the clouds, I rise. I sit on the edge of my bed for only a moment, to look out my window to a world of unknown. Anything can happen today. I may not be here tonight. But since I have been given the gift of rising from this plane at this very moment, I will do so. I sometimes feel like a child on Christmas. I anxiously await that moment...

It was the rabbit fur earmuffs that muffled the voices of my friends as our conversation softly entered my warm protected ears. It was the knee length hounds-tooth jacket I wore that provided the most warmth while still remaining fashionable and appealing. It was the small silver dangling earrings I borrowed from Mum since it was New Year's Eve. It was the extra pair of fluffy pink socks I wore hidden inside my black boots, in case the night grew colder than expected. It was the extra few minutes I put into curling my blonde, sun-kissed hair as tonight was to be a night to remember. The clock told that it was just after 9pm. The snow was falling at a rapid pace and was showing no mercy to anyone daring to challenge its power. Six inches of cold, white snow blanketed the roads as we pushed on through the somewhat hazardous conditions. The road that in summer showed lines of yellow and white clearly for cars to see, now showed nothing but a sheet of white leaving it up to the consc...