My Secret Place

It's sixty-five degrees outside. The sky is a soft pink and orange mixture. When the breeze blows by you can smell the forest, its a musky, mossy mixture that becomes home to my nose. I step outside and the sunset greets me with beauty. I sit on your rocking chair on the front porch with a nice glass of cold iced tea that has condensation dripping down the side. I can't help but feel overjoyed as your day comes to an end in this place that belongs to me and only me.

I live on a ranch in Eastern Texas. Where I can smell the briny sea in the morning thanks to the eastern wind. My house is surrounded by pines, mesquites, oaks, and elms. Trees that stand a hundred and ten feet tall. Trees that turn an array of colors in autumn. Nature around me is at peace. Nature has a way of working its self into my moods; it influences me to be as at peace as it is. What can I do? After all it's a force of nature.

Autumn is the best, walking outside to weather that doesn't make my insides boil is a relief. I can sit on the front porch and listen to the leaves clack together in a symphony of the forest. If you listen close enough I can hear the cicadas start their song around 5:15. The song that serenades me as I lounge around, content to do nothing more but stick my nose in a good book. The people here are amazing. Only because the only people allowed in my secret place are the ones closest to my heart. The ones who mean the most to me, who I wouldn't be myself without.

Winter comes and it's snowing. Plows of off-white bliss cover the ground. Everywhere I look it is beautiful. I bundle up and go to the lake. It's frozen over, just thick enough to ice skate on. We spend all day laughing and playing on the ice. As the day comes to a close, my heart can't help but to be over flowing with love for those around me and for the place that I am in. For nothing can compare to Texas. At least not for me.