The last time we were out here was at least 12 years ago.  A beautiful February day.  Unseasonably warm like a few days ago.  It was a different time then.  The future seemed so far away.  Distant and untouchable.  Little did we know it was just around the corner.  Creeping up behind us with every step we took.  It was sneaking up on us.  The present.  The now.  It seems like yesterday but there are years between now and then.

Walking along the trail and then trailing off.  We found a barbed wire fence.  But then no fences could hold us back.  You lifted the top wire and pushed down on the bottom one to let me pass through without getting cut.  I remember seeing the buckle on your black biker boots gleam in the sunlight as I squeezed under the dull barbed thorns.  We walked among the prairie grass.  Just you and me.  Holding hands.  Along the way we found a little valley with fallen trees.  We explored it like children.  Things moved slower then.  Time did not fly like it does now. Like a peregrine falcon hunting it's prey.  It soared like a turkey vulture. Gliding on thermals to gain a certain high.  We decided to stop and sit on one of the fallen trees.  Looking into each others eyes.  Our love was young.  I asked youforyour pocket knife.  As you handed it to me I got a memory of us camping in Oregon.  We tried and tried to cut fire wood with that knife to no avail.  The reminder of it made me flash a crooked grin at you.  I opened the knife carefully.  I began to carve our initials into a dead tree.  Not to forget a rugged heart to hold the letters secure.  I still wonder to this day if the mark I made is still there.  We decided to walk some more.  Carefree youth blowing through our hair.  That was when you carried a flask.  We smoked hand rolled cigarettes and took turns taking a shot from that silvery flask.  If I remember right it held Wild Turkey.  We got lost out there.  I'm not sure if we trailed off between the grasses or between each others gazes.  Eventually we ended up out in the open...away from the trees.  We were exposed.  Before we knew it there was an old pick up truck rattling it'swaytoward us.  I held up my hand to my eyes to block the sun in a stupefied confusion.  Before we knew it a man in denim overalls was shouting "Whataya doin' out here?  Get the F--- off my land or I'll shoot".  We see him holding a double barrel shot gun.  You grab my hand and we run like hell.  This time crossing the barbed wire we have less time for precaution.  You ended up cutting the knee of your jeans and some skin.  I don't think we stopped running until we reached the parking lot.  I remember seeing the blood trickle down your pants leg.  I kissed you on your lips and said "If that isn't a birthday to remember I don't know what is."  You just gave me that rebel smile...a no cares in this world grin.

These are the memories that tie us together.  Wound up and knotted. Sun faded remembrances that I will never forget.  Even if age is lurking around the next passage.  Even if time has not been a friend of youth.  I can pull these past events out of my reserved space in my mind and reflect.  That place that is yours and ours that time can never touch.

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