It is not every day that I recall this place. It was a hidden gem- barricaded all around by a lush supply of towering, evergreen wooden poles that enamored its every breath, swaying back and forth whilst chorusing nature's medley. You had to squint your eyes to see it; if you blinked for the sparsest moment, it would disappear amongst the drowning roar of background chatter. Frankly, it was hidden in plain sight; holding no sentimental value, other than to those who treasured it most. The familiar, encompassing flurry of homely embodiment rushed to greet you the moment you cared to step in, the shadow of which subtly flourished in its every corner, reminding you why you chose to stay.

It wasn't one of a kind, I suppose- there were hundreds of them, all cluttered into one endless meadow that stretched on for miles and miles, layered on top, below, parallel to each other- without end in sight. Yet, neither of them held the same aura of fresh, minty nostalgia that thrilled the deepest part of my heart. There was a particular feature of its marvelous familiarity that I remember most distinctly. A transparent glass window, cold to the touch. It was shaded by rows and rows of horizontal, white strips, composed of cardboard, which were threaded through a pale string that kept them firmly shut. When you opened them, by yanking firmly on the weary, gnarled drawstring, it was as if all the countless horizons of the universe had been laid out before you.

I’ve witnessed many sunsets throughout my life, but I always found them to be prettier through that glass window. Perhaps its thick borders that kept me enclosed within the homely, minty terrain that I grew to love, weren’t in fact glass, but lenses- cultivated especially for me, to relish in; for me to be selfish and witness the prettiest views on Earth that it chose to bestow on no one but myself. Every evening, it was through that glass window that I embraced the picturesque gardens of never-ending possibility, deep-hued ravines that extended into the deepest edges of the atmosphere, defying the notion of what was humanly possible, stirring me to reach for my dreams, and become whoever I wanted to be, because why couldn’t I? It was looking through that window that I felt invincible; I was invincible, because I said so, and who could tell me otherwise? 

There were the ravines, blending in quietly with the bold, cloudy sky, thriving under the blistering sphere of immeasurable light that supplemented our routine existence. They were colored by faint hues of variable shades that strayed from one end of the spectrum to the other on a day-to-day basis, having never quite made up their minds as to which definition they preferred. That evening, they were a bright, bold green- extending out into the atmosphere, accompanying the rolls and plains of the far-extending hills and mountainous landscapes blanketed by the mazes and mazes of thick bark extending upwards, with lush, leaf-tops that refused to let away even the slightest speck of dull crust away from their verdant shield; layers and layers stacked upon each other, each rising higher above into the sky than the one before it, until you are left pondering on whether the layer beyond was really there, or if that was merely a figment of your vivid imagination- and melting into the azure somewhere in the midst of it all.

It was by that glass window that I recollect my earliest memories; by that glass window that I witnessed firsthand, nature aging, as my faint silhouette, projected onto the smudges of its transparent glass, aged along with it. It was by that glass window that I took my first steps; the window that provided me with shelter whenever I was happy beyond means, or sad beyond sorrow; that window that means so much more to me than anyone will ever know. It was that window that I left behind when I put my life within the hidden gem that was barricaded all around, by a lush supply of towering, evergreen wooden poles enamoring its every breath- behind me. 

The window’s gone now. The place where it used to be is now a prominent, empty, fenced lot that you are sure to notice as you pass by.

I wonder if its remaining fragments still hold memories of me.