Chasing March Sunshine

Down at the bottom of March, the urge would become impossible to ignore.
We yearned for the sun on our skin.

In the afternoons after class, we would chase it.

One time it was to that park with the lake still covered in slushy ice. We laid on a blanket and smoked, mostly ignoring our textbooks. We watched as the ducks waddled over the surface, slipping through thin spots before bobbing and climbing back out.

Another time, we found an abandoned dam guarding a dry lakebed. We climbed the gritty slope and set up on the flat surface, high above the earth but surrounded by tall trees. So far from anything we couldn’t even hear the occasional passing car.

They were so brave.
Shirts off. Bras off.
Sun touching all of their skin.

I didn’t have that kind of abandon.

I settled for sleeves rolled up on my shoulders.
Maybe even my shirt pulled high so the sun could touch my back.