She closed her eyes slowly and took a deep breathe. She was breathing in the scents of crayons, paper, lavender, and a scent she couldn’t place. She took a step forward and opened her eyes. She seen tables lined up in a circle and different colored chairs around all the tables. All the colors: pink, purple, red, blue, yellow and green. All the colors overwhelmed her so she took a step back and covered her eyes. She hide behind the lace of her sleeve. She peaked out to see a smiling face. Blue eyes meet hers and she lowered her arm a little.
“Hi Sarah, are you a little nervous” said the smiling lady.
Sarah nodded and completely lowered her arm. She turned and looked at her mom. Her mother stood there looking down with tears in her eyes. She didn’t understand why she was crying. Her eyes were red and slightly complimented her green eyes. She lowered herself down to Sarah’s level and handed her a pink bag.
“You are going to be fine,” her mom said.
The lady with the blue eyes reached her hand out. “Let’s go have some fun,” she said.
Sarah reached out and took her hand, started to walk forward. A child ran by squealing and almost tumbled into another child following another child. The third child yelled tag and tapped one of the other children. Sarah took a step back again then one of the children playing tag ran up to her.
“Hi, come play,” said the little girl. She had braids in her hair and a unicorn dress on that matched Sarah’s shoes. Sarah smiled and looked up to the girl and nodded. Sarah ran off and stopped a couple feet away and turned.
“I love you Mommy!”
Sarah watched her mom smile and lean down and take a picture. Sarah thought to herself. School isn’t going to be so bad. She smiled as her mom took another picture before running off. Sarah ran through all the chairs and the colors around her started to mix together as she took more speed. She tapped the other girl and they both stopped and smiled. They sat down and giggled. The lady with the blue eyes stood in front of them smiling.
“Let’s get your first day started! I’m Miss Grey. Everyone grab some crayons in your favorite colors and let’s get to coloring!” The blue eyed lady said. Sarah grabbed a pink and purple. The other girl she played tag with grabbed the same colors and smiled. Sarah smiled back and thought to herself that she was already having so much fun and that she believed she found her best friend.
The rain started to trickle down the windshield as I pulled out of the driveway. I was on my way to work and was happy to get out of the house but not happy that it was for work. I turned the curve to the main road and the rain picked up. It was a spring shower, just heavy enough to be annoying and depressing but at the same time, enough for the flowers to grow. I was depressed with the rain because it reminded me of the struggle back at home. I was dealing with being alone. I didn’t have a soul at home. I was struggling to keep myself together.
I was driving a little bit under the speed limit just to avoid any issues with the wet roads and also just to think to myself. I just wanted someone in my life. I wanted a reason to get up in the morning. As I turned onto another road to head to work I seen a little puppy sitting in the rain with his head down and shivering. The animal lover in me could not just keep going. I pulled over and put my hazard lights on. I exited the car. The smell of the rain was refreshing. I walked over to the puppy and put my hand out. It cried like I was about to punish it. No collar, no tags and so skinny. He let me pet him and I was in love. He was a beautiful black pup, no more than 6 months old. I took my jacket off and put it around the puppy and brought him to my car. I knew I wasn’t going to work today. He was so happy to have warmth. He licked my hand and I could see instant attachment in his eyes.
The rain started to get heavier at that point. I was so thankful to get him out of the weather. He seemed to be thankful too. He barked at me and put his paw on my hand that had been resting on the center console. At that point I knew I wasn’t so alone anymore and I had made a friend and someone that was going to be there for me. I pet his head and we sat in the car and waited for the rain to lighten up.
We were weathering the storm.
