Maybe, just maybe

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky.

She should have been asleep hours ago. She was NOT a night person, and now her morning workout would get thrown off. But how could she say no to an SOS from her best friend? That wouldn’t be a very good best friend thing to do, even if it was just to drink wine as she cried over some guy she’d gone on like, 2 dates with.

And she had to admit, the changing sky was beautiful. Were the clouds always this color around midnight? They were a delicate lavender color, unlike any purple she had ever seen before. Words couldn’t really describe what she was seeing, the clouds were almost dancing in the sky. When the moon shone through them just right, the sky got a pinkish hue; it almost looked like it was blushing from her gaze.

Was this really the same sky every night owl saw? Why had no one told her what she had been missing for the past couple years? Sure, her friends called her a grandma thanks to her strict 8pm bedtime, but to withhold this beauty? She made a mental note to call them out the next time the girls met up for brunch.

As soon as she got home, she took some ice cream out of the freezer, grabbed the dog, and brought a blanket out to her hammock. If she was going to stay up this late, she may as well cheat a little on her new diet, too. She didn’t NEED to diet, according to her family and friends, but it wasn’t hurting anything. And besides, obviously something about her needed to change, or else she wouldn’t be going home to an empty house, besides her dog, of course; who was great and all, but she definitely would enjoy a human body to cuddle with after a day of work.

Maybe she was being too strict with herself. Maybe she didn’t need to go to the gym every morning. Maybe she didn’t need to be so tied to a schedule. Maybe her friends were right about that diet. Maybe it was time to loosen up. Maybe the purple clouds weren’t the only thing she was missing out on.

In that moment, she made a choice: tomorrow she was playing hooky. No gym, no work, and no schedule. She was going to take the entire day to do whatever she wanted. She decided that she was tired of saying no just because she thought she was supposed to. If she was missing out on the night sky, she had to be missing out on more beautiful things. Life in her late 20s had to be more than work, sleep, and repeat. She still has so much of her life ahead of her, but staring at the clouds as they finished up their waltz suddenly made her life feel so insignificant. She felt so stagnant, when in reality, she hadn’t even gotten started.

Before she knew it, the moon was beginning it’s retreat behind the row of trees in her backyard, and the sky was returning to it’s star-filled abyss. And for the first time in a long time, she was looking forward to the day to come. She wasn’t dreading the same old routine, she was anticipating the choices she was going to allow herself to make. Who would have guessed one late night would change her entire outlook on her life? Definitely not her, but it was a long overdue revelation, and she welcomed it almost as much as she welcomed her cool pillow, and she barely remembered to turn her alarm off before falling to sleep. She dreamt of purple clouds dancing with the blushing sky, and was so thankful for the beauty she found in an unexpected place. Her life was just about to truly begin.