Early Spring

The warm breeze floats through the air. It’s enough to make her pause. She leans her face into the sun’s warming light and lets the breeze wash over her, clearing out the winter blues. She gently slides her feet out of her sandals and steps down onto the sidewalk. Bare skin to gritty warmth.
Her feet tingle with childhood memories. Running down the street chasing the music of the ice cream truck, the bottom of her feet painted the color of asphalt. Swinging as high as she could, feet dragging through dusty dirt matching the creaky cadence of the old swing set. Her toes carefully wrapped around corners of slick rocks as cool water rushes between them while playing in the creek behind her great aunt’s home. Tenderly flattening her feet across the gravel drive at her parents’ house hoping not to catch a sharp piece.
She leans a little further into the sun and curls her toes into the grit of the sidewalk, as much for balance as to sand out the rough edges of the cooler weather.