friends call me dan, my mom calls me daniel and nobody calls me danny (unless you want a punch in the face or are my girlfriend at the time... i might let that slide).
if i were to draw up the perfect day it would go something like this:
a sunrise over the rockies on a brisk morning with a fleece wrapped around my shoulders. a cup of coffee with a whisp of steam slowly climbing upward. thoughts of freedom swirling in my brain. the sounds of the world coming to life. awake in the awakening of a day. at once i know this day is like any other but i am alive to see this one. a walk down a white sand beach with sand so fine it feels like you are walking on a million bags of sugar. now a warm breeze off of the gulf of mexico or the indian ocean along the coast of kenya. the walk is just for me. but i hope there is a friend along my side with talks of hope, love maybe destiny. i would find myself in a bistro in the center of everything; paris or london. people moving too fast with too much on their mind and the smell of lilacs and diesel equally filling the air. My closest friend in the world just as happy as i am just to be. words and thoughts will move freely but we both know it isn't about what is said. a warm goodbye and then an opportunity. a nap beside an old wise oak. the sun finds its way through the millions of leaves like stars in the night but my eyes close and my body finds a few minutes of peace in the midst of a day without plan. i can hear children laughing and playing. my heart joyful. my mind at rest. as i wake i hear voices so distinguishable to my heart i can only be one place. home. brothers and mother and sister and father and everyone else in between. a meal that brings everyone together like a birthday dinner or easter. the smell of ham and potatoes and cheesy broccoli and fresh made rolls. the table set with beautiful dishes and enough chairs for everyone. many conversations just like the lunch rooms in high schools all over the world but every once in a while conversation moves to just one. a story of the day or of a day long ago. memories that only a family can understand. i may stay here all night... i hear someone calling my name. a little less familiar than my present company but i recognize it at once. a face of a girl that my eyes have been looking for all my life. when i see her or smell her or think of her my body has a reacts in a way unexplainable and illogical. my heart jumps and my limbs weaken but at the same time i have a sense of knowing that this feeling really isn't that far from the one i was having earlier with my family. a sense of belonging. we talk for hours or minutes but there is a connection that was made before the oak tree or the oceans or the rockies were formed. it is real and it is right and it is what hopes and dreams are made of. it is intangible but if it isn't there your heart yearns for it. love. i have felt it once or twice.
