Underwater Sand Castles

We spend our days

planning, plotting, painting

every detail in our picture-perfect life.

In our three-year calendar,

we diligently mark events, anniversaries, vacations –

secure in our illusion of predictability.

We start this future-fantasizing early:

dreaming of the fairy-tale wedding before wearing a bra;

starring in a heroic career prior to passing grade school.

Time moves as it should

until it doesn’t.

Too much rain combined with melting piles of snow

flows from the north and swells riverbanks,

overtaking once-dry ground.

All thoughts of controlled tomorrows are washed away.

Unhurried receding water

forces a painful patience-practice.

As if by magic, the dirty residue-lined land

is soon forgotten as we rebuild

our castles in the sand.

Impermanent yet important:

forever stunning,

shimmering in the twilight sun.

photo by Teri Holford