From Dawn to Dusk

A brief story of my childhood, to where I stand now.

Just as the sun was beginning to rise on my youth, I was bouncing between my mom and my dad, like it was normal. I didn't know what the words "money", "work", and "stress" meant. I knew nothing but "fun" and "innocence".

Shortly before noon, my family moved here to Las Vegas. I still knew "fun" and "innocence", but my eight-year-old self learned a new word, the hard way--"HOT". It was a sweaty, tiring word. I've always been partial to colder, wetter weather myself. The summers sucked.

Early afternoon, and summer still sucked. It was still way too hot for my liking. But I was growing up. In high school, I learned not to complain as much. Unfortunately, my adolescent brain started slipping up. At this point, my mind was too lazy to apply myself at school; I was far too focused on hips, b***s, and booty. Yep, I had learned the other meaning of the term "hot", along with an interesting four-letter-word calling itself "sexy". This new character became the antagonist of my teenage years. My sixteen-year-old self would not shut up about the ladies, and this eventually led to a serious lapse in judgement, which in turn led to every high-school student's worst nightware: drama. Rumors, loss of trust--you know the routine. Yet, somehow, I wasn't too affected by these issues. I just kept my head down, and worried about those who were still understanding enough to remain by my side. I was able to turn a huge mistake into a nice, life-long lesson.

By three in the afternoon, I had been able to put high-school, and all its negative residents, behind me. At twenty-years-old, I was working in a warehouse, riding a brand-new car (her name's Daisy), and making a decent amount of cash. Life was alright, up until one day, something in my mind told me, "This is not what you're meant to do. You're bigger than this place." Every day after that morning, I felt like I was being held back. I felt as if I had been running smoothly along, and all of a sudden, a rope was tied to my chest, pulling me back every possible way it could. I would never accomplish what I had set out to do. I couldn't follow my dream. I suddenly felt as if I would never have the money to get to a place where I could work, and not worry at all about stress, and be happy along the way. I had run straight into a ditch, and I had no idea what to do. I got some sort of blessing when I was diagnosed with Benign Positional Vertigo, causing the higher-ups at the company I worked for to raise their eyebrows in worry, for fear I might fall and hurt myself on the job. The vertigo allowed me the wiggle room to leave that place and find another job--albeit with a loss of income.

As the sun began to sink down, I found myself working at a different job, albeit with lower pay. Two weeks in, I heard the same voice from before tell me to "Get out of here. You're bigger and BETTER than this place." For whatever reason, I didn't panic this time. I was relatively calm. I was still upset that I wasn't in a happy place quite yet, but that was just impatience on my part. Somehow, I knew everything would be okay. Don't ask me why. I don't know why.

The sun is behind the horizon, now. As of the day I type this, I'm left without a job.

Any normal twenty-one year old with car payments, insurance to keep up with, and family members to help out would probably be panicking right now. Why aren't I?

I feel as though this is it. I feel as though this is the turning point. I feel as though my dreams are right around the corner. I'll become a writer. Or a singer. I'm trying out for American Idol one last time this September--maybe that's it?

Who knows? I just know that this is right. The sun has painted the clouds in dusk, and my childhood is over. After this silent, peaceful night, my life will begin.

© 2015 Joshua David Dary

Author's Note

This is just something I wrote tonight. I hope you enjoy!

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Featured Review

Nia Hope

I really like the imagery of learning new words that you used to describe different parts of your life. Hopefully there will be another part telling us more of your story, or maybe what happens between "Dusk and Dawn". Amazing write and very honest as usual. Keep being awesome! :)