Kailyn Pater
It was a straight shot with the dark lavender and crystal-pink skies setting over the mountain I had just overcome.
The mountain made me lost,
with twists sending me east
and cliffs I nearly drove off with unreasonable purpose.
The blood-orange sun dipped under the frosted peak and all hope seemed gone.
The roads were now dark—dark in a way that allowed me to see clearly.
They led me over rolling hills into a field where all I could see was a bright-shining star.
It shone blue against the darkness.
I fell in love with this blue.
It seemed ordinary, but on further inspection I realized it was anything but.
A pale blue ocean that turned light to dark with each crashing wave.
It was the type of blue you overlook until you see the life that lives within it:
hope and despair,
love and loss,
life and death,
beauty and humility.
I’ll never regret that drive through the mountain.
It brought me into a light—a bright blue light—that let me see what is beyond this world.