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August has always had a certain significance in her life.
It’s the month of new beginnings, of change for the better and the worse - all drenched in the light of golden hours. She wrote about it very plainly once. Something about salty air and rusty doors while what one thought was love the other deflected as a light summer fling.
Even heartbreak earns a slight shimmer during the last days of summer. When revisiting memories from those times, there’s never an absolution to the sadness. There was a sprinkle of giddiness under the setting sun, salty tears wetting cheeks while strolling barefoot through the soft sand with her mum's warm hand secure at her shoulder.
No matter the state of her heart, there is also, without exception, newness and excitement that comes with brisk gusts of wind. When she was young it was a new school year, the possibility of new friendships and the definiteness of filing more knowledge into the compartments of her brain. She just couldn’t wait to learn, because everything she heard and experienced was reflected in her coloring books, in her diary, and later, in her music and lyrics.
Honestly, nothing has changed as the years have gone by. She’s learned that one should always strive for epistemophilia. August makes her grab that extra book, dive into the articles of her newest source for knowledge and at one point it makes her press play on a football podcast.
For Travis to enter her life in the month of August shouldn’t have surprised her then. Yet, it truly did. He was the change. He ticked boxes for romance, curiosity and intellectual exchange (who’d guessed). With the orange sky, humidity and the wind of change it, he, was prone to happen. It only took 33 years of patience.
The memory of that first day is still fresh. She can almost catch the notes of his date perfume in the air around her, feel the calluses in his left hand when he bravely gripped hers that night, the night when the moon decided to shine a ghostly light over the big city. His palm was sweaty and so was hers. Neither cared.
He then showed her dimensions she had yet to explore. It was things, abstract and impossible to describe in detail, that would have given a profound depth to texts she’d brought to life a long time ago. After all, maybe that was what she’d tried to convey when she’d put the words on paper. That August is more. Full stop.
Their first weeks together were a lovesick haze. Kiss-bruised lips under red stage lipstick, hours spent on the phone and togethter, getting to know each other, mind and body, and just never getting enough. When September closed in on them, there was no doubt. She was going to fall in love with him and just maybe, he was already in love with her.
The second time around, they spent the majority of the time sleeping when the other was awake. Her mornings were his evenings, but much was the same. They watched the same sun split through a dull sky, gazed at the same stars on clear nights and laughed at the same jokes. What was once new and exciting had become safe and calm. Still, the butterflies seemed to flap their wings even quicker, right there, in the pit of her stomach.
Then suddenly, in some mysterious way, 730 days have started and ended. Secrets, thoughts, kisses, hugs, meals, jokes, music, footballs and so much more have passed between them. It is hard to remember any other August than the ones by each other's sides. They grow together, their love still so intense it competes with the North star above them.
What also shimmers and sparkles is her ring. The heavy diamond that rests on her left ring finger. It is a promise of forever. Because, in the midst of the magic and craziness that comes with the year’s eight month, he asked her if she wanted him by her side for the rest of her life. Mornings and middays, evenings and nights. Smiles and tears and laughter and shouts and everything. He wants to give her it all, because he loves her more than he said can be put into words.
Their tears blended between lips in kisses that were languid and deep. White shorts were exposed to the dirty ground as he was on one knee before her. She’d never seen anyone more beautiful than him at that moment. Her future. Shiny eyes, tears dripping in a steady stream over his cheeks.
She said yes. Of course she did. She’d never anticipated anything more than this day. Her fingers were shaking when the ring found its place on her finger. A perfect fit. Just like they are.
August has always had a certain significance in her life.
It’s the month of new beginnings, of change for the better and the worse - all drenched in the light of golden hours. Now it is also drenched in him and the major milestones between the two of them. It encompasses putting her heart out there and finding the person protecting it at all costs.
After all, August might just have become her favorite month.