Washington

I grew up in the sun.

I was a sun baby through and through.

My complexion can vouch for me. I radiate rays off my skin. I radiate no sign of a Vitamin D deficiency. Warmth was never labeled a luxury. Rather a commodity of where I lived.

Then I was offered to go to Washington. Where the sun like the rest of us wears a mask. The sun over there does not show its face. Only when when it wants to.

The sun performs everyday here where I live. The sun cannot get enough attention here. The sun is taken for granted here. Why does the sun pick and choose places where it wants to be seen? Where it wants to be embraced? Where it wants to be fully taken in?

I still have that offer in Washington. Maybe it's good to to give up the sun baby lifestyle for a little bit.

And maybe it'll teach me more about the sun and why it gives up the limelight and hands it over to the clouds and to the rain. The sun must get shy every once in a while. Does it not?

Or like the rest of us the sun goes through periods of burnout. Too many people under its rays. Too many crops to grow. Too much effort to sustain every piece of life on the planet. It must be exhausting.

So if the sun can hide in Washington, why can't I?

-j.a. buckly