Literary Stretch

Have you noticed a difference in the light? It seems so much brighter to me. Like we are getting closer to the sun and its rays illuminate the contents of the earth as if everything was in the spotlight. I notice it mostly when I am driving on certain roads. Perhaps it is the vastness of the road that can embrace more of the sunbeams instead of repelling them. The sky is bluer than the robin’s egg and the white clouds seem more like puffy whipping cream, with a sun-drenched backdrop so vivid, it forces a smile to my lips. The green grass that lines the asphalt happily points upward as it soaks in its nourishment from the light flowing down. Everything is in its right place, giving and taking the way it was meant to be. Being surrounded by this brilliance makes everything seem so clear. I feel as if I am at home, driving down a country road with nothing around but pastures and pine trees. But I am not. I am in a city that sometimes has a way of feeling strange and familiar at the same time. This isn’t the place where I grew up, but it is the place where I became grown. I guess that is why I noticed the light. It reminds me of simplicity and innocence.