Marissa

She was praying with her fingers crossed, standing on the beach ankle deep in the chilly sand. Grey sweatshirt, black shorts, her sandals kicked aside looking empty, forlorn. Her face was turned to the warm pink rays of the setting sun. Her eyes were closed but she smiled from the sun's kiss on her face. In this light she looked even younger than she was. Her strawberry hair glowed incandescent in the evening light. She wore a chain around her neck with a cross, a star of David, an Om, a crescent moon and star and a triskalion hanging from it. She touched it and thought to herself, "Cover all bases!" The thought made her smile even wider.

She opened her eyes just as the sun kissed the horizon. To the west the sky was an explosion of rainbows, to the east the first stars were already twinkling. She knelt in the sand, put her hands on her thighs and bowed forward til her forehead touched the warm sand. Thank you, sun. Thank you, water. Thank you, sand. Thank you, stars. She stood up like the first blades of grass rising from the springtime earth and performed a perfect sun salute that fell into downward facing dog and rose up into first warrior. Then she stepped out of the moment of perfect silence and began to pick up her things off the beach.

God, I love her!