The Believer Community – Writing challenge

Fog, smoke, and Haze.

Let me share a memory with you, an experience I will cherish until time washes away my name from the hearts I hold dear.

Let me paint you a moment from my childhood, a moment of profound beauty, a moment of true inner peace.

This is not fiction or a conjuring from my imagination, this is a snapshot of a life.

My life.

I welcome you into the serenity of my escape on a cold winter morning. A lazy day spent embracing the breath-taking beauty of the Free State, a province, the agricultural heart of South Africa.

The sky is clear blue, not a cloud in sight. The morning mist still lingers undisturbed in the lower regions of the rolling landscape. The grasslands are stripped of their lush green, only a silver hue remains, the touch of winter. On the horizon, the sun rises, to warm the sleeping, frozen pastures. The mild rays chase the frost from the organic carpet, the livestock grateful to graze, their movements leaving swirls in the fog.

With multiple layers donned to protect me from the bite of the crisp morning air, I make my way outside. My warm breath comes out in puffs of condensed fog, my mind still lost in the haze of the early rise, in the haze of life's concerns. The frost cracks under my feet as I walk to open the gate to the camp holding the horses, the cold metal slick with ice.

Saddling my mare, I force my cold stiff leg into the stirrup and mount the reluctant animal. Her protest escapes in a cloud of fog as she exhales under my weight. Slowly we walk out into the open plain, moving as one to the rhythmic rocking of a western style.

Soon I hear her breathing normalize, the heat from her body radiating to mine. With a slight prompt of my heel she responds, the anticipation from her powerful muscles can be felt as she propels forward.

Cold air immediately burns my face as it rushes by, the sound drowning out everything else. The most calming of noise. My hair whip around carelessly and a voluntary smile grace my face as I close my eyes. The speed is exhilarating, trusting only her keen senses to guide our flight. Surrendering the reins.

Have you ever invested your trust in a magnificent creature like this? In the darkness I entrust my life to each stride she takes, my breath quickening with hers due to the adrenalin rush.

The sleepy haze lifted from my mind, my thoughts swirling like tendrils of smoke in a mind overcome with the simple pleasures of life.

I can feel the end as her speed starts to slow, at the last moment I open my eyes, and all I see is the haze. The blinding sun rays reflecting off the pale silver grass fields, the fog of my rapid breathing, and the steam of my horse's warm body. This is the haze of clarity, the understanding of pure enjoyment, of privilege, of admiration for breathless moments.

Too soon she stops, her heavy breathing visible in the cold air as she heaves, like a dragon breathing smoke.