When I was little,I used to lay outside and reach my hands up to the sky above,convinced I could touch the great moving clouds if I just extended my arms a little further. My dad would watch me and let me dream while my mom shut me down saying I was too tiny to catch one. I vowed one day I would touch one,just to prove her wrong and she would laugh hard. My dad said “Your mommy is just jealous how close you are to doing it!” And I accepted that answer.

She hit him too;that was the day we left.

I knew she was mean but I never expected that. I didn’t think she’d hurt anyone…apparently we were her third marriage. We left three years ago. I still wanted to prove her wrong because she was a bad person. Yet,as I grew I understood it was worthless.

However,I went outside,I lay on the grass,I saw a cloud different from the others and for the first time in years I reached for it! It was small and when I lay down it looked closer.

It was.

I grabbed it.

It was soft. It felt like cotton candy. I liked how it felt,how warm it was against my skin. It was easily to twist and morph. I morphed it into a hug,holding it tightly. I wanted to eat it like cotton candy but I knew I’d just get water.

I let it go again. It floated up and joined the rest. I could say I did it now,just to spite her,expect I had been right. She was wrong. I had touched a cloud. They were just like I imagined,soft,warm. Like a mother’s embrace.

The embrace I had longed for all my life and never got.