I called it the Park. I saw it while in search of you, and fell in love with it when I found you. Within all the clattering of a growing city, it remained quietly on the edge of a mountain, overlooking the ocean on one side, and surrounded by a forest on the other.

It was at first an aimless following of its narrow trails, my boots painted by specks of mud that jumped up from the earth with my every step. Through the thick forest of coniferous trees, I let the wet smell of the morning dew cling to my sweater and dampen it with a faint sweetness hinting of your presence. I felt traces of you as the wind brushed through my hair with a saltiness from the ocean below; as the ruffling of leaves harmonized with the distant crashing of endless waves rolling onto land and back again; I even thought I found you when the timid squirrels leaped high up to the trees, though all I wanted to do was ask if they were in your embrace. Just as the twisted vines of panic curled around my throat, you tapped my shoulders and whispered patience against the drums of my ears. So I listened, and sat down on a cold pebbled bench in the Park in hopes of your presence.

The Park, however beautiful and tranquil, was not a place of comfort after the setting of the sun below the horizon. With boldness, It tested my endurance and resilience against the harshness of nature. The ocean wind chilled down my boiling thoughts, and scratched my face to a crimson red with its frosty touch. My hands scrambled back into my sleeves as the dark shadows of the forest gradually loomed over me. As I remained on the bench in anxious anticipation of your arrival, the little pebbles jabbed into my skin in mockery of my fragility against their sharp edges. Still I persisted, and grew to love the shocking coldness that the Park submerged me in. As my breaths turned to fog, and needles from the pine trees around me fell on my shoulders one by one, I was revived. In the depths, I finally felt them, the thundering echos of your soundless footsteps.

Through my lonesome journey in pursuit of you, the Park took me down the paths of springs and winters. It welcomed me with grace and everything it had to offer, but in exchange, it gave me a chilling lash of its harshness. In its comfort I hopelessly searched for you, yet in its torment I found your presence to be everything I had around me. You let me wander without directions, and showed me the light and the dark where they existed. With gratitude, I looked back to the trees, the ocean, the waves, the wind. Then I turned, and with your gracefulness, continued on where I left off into future and freedom itself.