Picture Perfect

The polaroid fluttered down delicately through the gentle breeze, as the mushroom cloud engulfed the world.

High upon the mountaintop overlooking her hometown, she sits in mourning of the life she'd had, of the family she loved, of the friends she'd made. Her delicate life as fragile as vase of flowers she now realizes could have fallen from the pedestal to shatter on the ground at any moment. Realizing now that those flowers had grown every day, bloomed every day, and gave life and air to breath every day, and for that she should be so grateful. She sat with fear insider her heart, trepidation on her face, tears in her eyes, but a smile on her lips. As she knew while this was the end, her story was what made her what she was today. For the steps she took in life are what created the path she walked to get here.

All the mundane things in life now seemed so profound, and all her biggest concerns now seemed so meaningless. She picked the petals off the flowers and watched the blazes streak across the sky with tears rolling down her cheeks. Feeling ashamed of her body for being too fat or too skinny, too short or too tall now seemed so insignificant and so small. What they thought of her is now entirely meaningless, and what she thought of them means nothing to them at all. What means something now are all the little things and those are the only things that matter in the end. Waking up as a child with not a care in the world, and the only question on her mind of how much fun she'll have today. Getting in the car with her friends in school to drive to the mall, not to shop at the stores, but to walk the aisles of each other's lives. Meeting her true love and not falling in love but stumbling and tripping towards it together until they both plunged headfirst together over the cliff of concerns into the ocean of love that would form the foundation of their lives.

She sat amongst the flower petals, face stained with tears that curved her graceful smile, for she knew her life was worth living, and her children were worth dying for. She thought of raising her children with the only person she could ever imagine being with for the one life she'd been gifted, as that is what her life, her lover, and her children were. Gifts given to her from opening the present and living it to the fullest. The sleepless nights now all seemed so simple, and the tiny fingers wrapped around hers now seemed so grand. The mess in the kitchen and the living room now seemed so tidy, and the small footsteps between them were now such massive leaps. The fights they had now meant nothing, and time spent doing nothing were the most meaningful of all. The pain of watching her children make the same mistakes she'd made now seemed like a beautiful movie she knew had a wonderful ending, for she knew that through watching their lives unfold, she was watching an extension of her own.

She took out her camera now, as she thought about the final moments with her one true love. She knew the moment would darken their lives soon, and yet when it came, it was a blinding moment she'd never seen coming. That last moment with the one she'd loved, knowing they'd never speak again, yet while staring into each other's eyes, they spoke the words of a two lifetimes, one lived together, and one that would never be. Though they were now apart, she knew they'd always be together as their lives were intertwined now like threads of a rope, despite the fraying ends.

As she raised the camera to her eye and the streaks of light now graced the horizon to end their endless flight, her tears were all but dry now and her smile was all that remained. For she knew this life was fading but would live forever soon. She snapped a photo of her hometown, where she loved, cried, and grew. This life was all worth living, and the peace of that was all she knew.

The polaroid fluttered down delicately through the gentle breeze, at the end of a life that meant so much more than the moment of it ending, despite it ending soon.