lemonsilver: summer baby

i spent last summer in the north of queensland, where the rainforest creeps down to the ocean and the sun glows gold in the hot sand.

first we went to byron bay, where i sucked mangos and gelato and threaded frangipani flowers through my sun-bleached hair, swimming and growing brown in the heat as all around us locals flew past on rusted bicycles, long hair curling behind them as they rode, tattoos rising and falling across muscles in tanned skin. we played with my small cousins; maeve who is dark hair and quiet eyes and wonder and oliver who is impatience and youth, and so, so much love. i walked down dusty market lanes and there was so much colour and art and life everywhere, beauty in all forms surrounding me.

after byron we drove through tumbling hills and misted valleys and cragged cliffs until we found the town of toowoomba, far away from the green sea and green land, just starting to breathe again after years of drought. we spent christmas there, listening to the ticks of clocks in my grandmother's house and chasing the younger children around the lawn until they collapsed, giggling and gasping for breath. we met new faces, dorje who had only opened his owl eyes for the first time two days ago when i met him, and niamh, who was older than her tiny cousin but only by a month or so. baby hands played wondering with my fingers and rings, and the older cousins wrapped their strong little arms around my kneck and leant their cheeks against my shoulders, sighing sleepily as i carried them through the night. the summer belonged to us and we lived in it with all that we could. there is so much warmth and love in family, and i hold on to mine with all my heart.