Everything around me had movement. The perpetual waves kept crashing in against the sand, stealing footprints and castles, and then they would sneak back to hide in the ocean to do it all over again. Children had their own mines, digging for sea shells, occasionally finding one with a scared or grumpy resident. Even the colors in the sky were slowly changing to orange, pink, and purple.

The soft, salty breeze tousled her hair, tickling my cheek. Standing next to me, with my arm around her shoulder and her arm around my waist, the dim sun glowed against her face. She looked so radiant, yet so peaceful. It was as if she was a candle.

She looked at me, smiling brightly. Uncontrollably, I smiled back at her. Despite the cold waves snaking around my feet, I felt warm inside. Whenever she was around, everything seemed better. All the bad things in the world fled before her. And now, after waiting for so long, we were starting a new life together.

We had met at a friend’s birthday party. Of course, I didn’t expect anything to happen. But then she was there. None of us had met her before. But it was explained that she had become a friend too. She was rather shy. No surprise. She was surrounded by strangers. But I thought I’d try to be friendly with her and make her feel a little more comfortable.

As the party prolonged, I found her to be a very pleasant girl to be around and decided to try and keep in touch with her. Little did I know that the next weekend that we’d be seeing each other again.
She lived in a very nice neighborhood. Yet I wasn’t bothered by it. Though I did find it odd that she lived in such a place. She didn’t strike me as someone who was raised in sizable money. Her style of clothes appeared subtle and plain, her hair wasn’t in any particular style, and didn’t even carry a purse. She was her own self. She was different.
And now here we are today, with almost fifteen years passed. We’ve had our ups and downs; we’ve both seen each other cry. But through everything that has been thrown at us, we’ve overcome. Our love grows stronger by the day. We’ve been married for almost nine years now, but to me, we were practically married the day I fell in love with her.
“Mommy, Daddy, look!”
For some reason, I, as well as my wife, recognized that unison of voices and immediately turned to look where they were coming from. Just a couple yards away from us, in the ocean, were three kids, trying to get our attention. Once they had it, they frantically pointed to something. My wife and I looked to see what it was they were pointing to and saw a school of small fish jumping together in and out of the water, as if they were their own wave. The children giggled in excitement.
“Look, Sophie, look at the fishes,” I turned to my wife to see her hold a small infant girl, who was giggling as well. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with happiness and smiled widely at the infant and my wife.
Suddenly, everything shifted and then disappeared. I blinked and found myself alone in a bed. My bed. I slowly sat up and recognized that I was in my room. Then, with utter disappointment, I flopped back down on my pillow, wishing I hadn’t woken up.
Then the sound of vibration echoed throughout my room. I looked to my side and saw my phone’s screen bright with a received message. I picked it up and it said
Good morning, handsome.
It was Anna, the same girl standing next to me in the dream. I smiled and texted her back to say good morning. And so began another day closer to our future.