Lazy summer evenings with the sun sinking.

The hours before it slipped behind the trees

were cool when the breeze held us in its arms.

I didn’t ever have a care about the dirt

that caked my new dress and my hands

because I was free in the backyard, for the time being,

just my sister and me playing pretend

just playing pretend.

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Nothing to worry about, just enjoying the mud

my sister and I became fierce pirates

and we were beautiful princesses

and the only trouble we had those days

was around dinnertime, when Mom would open the sliding screen door

and shout “Girls, playtime’s over, you need to come in!

It’s dinnertime!”

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We didn’t need fancy toys or videogames

because our imaginations were free

and the shovels we used to find buried treasure

were the only controllers in our hands.

Who knew life could be found in a hole

with a few broken rocks and a couple of worms?

We only needed shovels to find our treasure.