The Day We Got Lost

We weren’t even trying to go anywhere

just driving

because the road was there

and the sky was big

and gas was cheap

and we didn’t want to go home yet

You had your arm out the window

fingers surfing the wind

and I was singing along to a song

I didn’t really know

but you didn’t care

you just smiled

that sideways grin

like you’d won something

We took a wrong turn

but you said, “There are no wrong turns,”

like a fortune cookie

and somehow it felt true

We found a field of sunflowers

taller than us

and pulled over

just because we could

You ran into the middle

hands wide like you were flying

and I took a picture

that still makes me laugh

because your hair was doing

this wild tornado thing

We bought warm soda

from a gas station with a broken sign

and sat on the curb

eating peanut M&Ms

sorting them by color

like it meant something

and maybe it did

Everything smelled like summer

even the sun on the pavement

and something blooming

we never found the name for

Maybe we were only gone

for an hour

but it felt like

the kind of day

that doesn’t age

And I still think

about those sunflowers

the ones we didn’t pick

the way you said,

“Let them stay wild.”