Raindrops were falling on my face. It was the first gloomy, rainy afternoon we had in a week, and for a brief few seconds upon waking up I didn't know any of this.
I didn't even know I woke up. No warning, no signs, one moment just boom - conscious again, eyes open again, staring up at murky grey clouds. My poor corneas were not exactly used to being waterboarded first thing in the morning so just imagine my daze those first few seconds.
Scrambling up in the mushy, icky, muddy dirt, half-drenched, sputtering rainwater from out my lips all the while blinking back my regular vision from ocean-view.
Same bed of grass, same ring of trees all around, everything was as it was last night… but right then, the scene in my mind was far elsewhere. I must confess, little baby Ria was not something I expected even in my dreams to ever think about.
It was hard to imagine her ever being little, I always had in my head that Ria was always the way she was from the dawn of the universe.
