Saipan

prompt: the best summer of my life


Sitting up on a tattered blanket I watch the pink start to blush over the horizon. This is what I woke up in the cool grey of early dawn  to see.

Below me in the bay the water stretches out in undulating shades of the most brilliant aquas, turquoise, greens and sapphire blues.
I am almost lulled back to sleep by the constant crashing of the ocean against the rocks, but I wait patiently and will myself to stay awake.
It is not long before my patience is rewarded as the sky bursts into a brilliant display of pinks, reds, oranges and yellows.
I turn my face upward as if tilting my head up might help me soak in more of the indescribable beauty.
It's breathtaking.
And yet, there is no fuss or fanfare, no pronouncement of this awesome splendour. The sun just silently crests upward, climbing slowly into the sky to start a new day.
It feels like something that ought to be accompanied by a chorus of angels singing.
Instead there is a calm and quiet that sweeps through me.
I have seen the sun rise before, but here -  sitting on the edge of a cliff  on a tiny island in the middle of the pacific ocean - the morning has a glory all it's own.
It is different somehow.
I pick up my pencil stub and sketch pad knowing I have the whole day stretching before me. This day  followed by many more days with nothing more to do than sketch,  swim and soak in this new and wondrous place.
This is going to be the best summer of my life.