i got sunshine...

i got home completely exhausted last night and as i came up the stairs, michelle called me and wanted to know if i felt up for hanging out at edgewater. edgewater always sounds like a good plan so i met up with her there and we sat on the fishing pier, walked down by the water, just soaked in the sun and the wind and the water. i got my kite out and we were flying it as the sky continually changed from orange to black to blue to black to purple and the lightning started flashing.

we pulled the kite down and ran for the shelter by the beach as the waves picked up and the lightning flashed. we sat on a picnic table and watched everything blur.

most of the people had left the park by then, since it was storming and sunset, and it was just us and a group of maybe ten high school kids, the girls in bikinis bundled up in towels, the guys smoking phillies blunt cigars and hanging out. they had us take group pictures of them and everyone was just having a great time as the storm raged on.

michelle and i are talking when suddenly we stop. because we hear this singing coming from four of the girls at the table behind us. they're doing some old gospel-sounding song, splitting off into four-part harmony and while they're trying to find the pitch the first time, it sounds beautiful and i'm almost crying because with the sounds of the wind and the waves and the storm, it sounds divine.

the guys come back from the washroom and say they want to sing too. at first they're rapping some top-40 stuff, but shift gears quickly into motown. they're singing marvin gaye. when they see me sitting there mouthing the words they get all excited and tell me to come over and sing with them, my dismal white-girl rhythm and all. the rain is still pouring and flooding all around us and when michelle comes back, she joins us and we're singing the temptations "my girl," snapping our fingers, clapping our hands, us girls singing backup to the guys.

by now it's completely dark. we're saying goodbyes and they're saying they're so glad we sang with them and i'm saying i'm so honored that i got to hear them sing. i can barely see as i'm driving on the shoreway, but i've got my letters to cleo on the tape deck and the foo fighters on the radio and i'm feeling totally euphoric.