Just A Piece

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The sun hits my face, causing the sweat on me to somehow feel even more sweatier and wetter. My trainers pound into the sand below them making a swoosh sound. My dog, Sammy a golden retriever runs next to me. He's always been a good runner even though he's as old as he is now. I wish that I had a shirt on today. If I did I could rub some of this sweat off of my body. My sports bra can't really help that though. My thighs brush together slightly as I run.

 The beach is full already even though its barely six in the morning. Its summer though.Tourist season. Although every season is tourist season when you live in paradise. I've lived in Hawaii my entire life, but i'm not Hawaiian. Not even slightly. My parents moved here before they were married. My mom was Irish. So i'm a ginger. Red hair. Freckles. Greeneyes. Pale skin. I haven't been sun burnt in years though. I've lived here my entire life so my skin has built up some sort of resistance to the bright Hawaiian sun. Even if it still remains the same porcelain white color that it's always been. If I wouldn't know the island so well i'd say that i'm nothing, but a tourist either. You can always point them out though. Fanny packs. Cameras around their necks even though they're at a beach where they could easily get ruined. Dazed looks on their faces. Pointing out everything. Like wow this stick is just lovely. I've never seen a stick this nice before in my entire life. Let's take twenty pictures. Scrapbook 'em.No rest for the wicked I guess,right?

I pull my phone out of my athletic shorts pocket and pause Purple Haze even though I was totally rocking out to Jimi Hendrix. I pull my ear buds out of my ears and try to catch my breath. I start to wheeze a little. I should've taken a hit of my inhaler before I left my house this morning. My lungs are heaving. I can barely breathe. I take a few short breaths.

Multiples of eight. I start to count in my head, trying to calm myself down, just like my doctors tell me to. Some of my asthma attacks are brought on by panic. If I calm down I could very well stop myself from having one. So I count in multiples of eight until I get to three hundred forty-four and my breaths come out longer and more even. Eight is my safe number. I take a few deep breaths before I can finally catch my breath.

I go running every single day. This hasn't happened for awhile. I really should've taken my inhaler this morning. It's the heat. That's why I go running so early in the morning, by the beach. It's not hot out and it's not dry when i'm by the water. Sam wags his tail and starts to lick my torso,with a dazed expression on his cute little doggy face. 

We're just resting for a minute boy. I run my hand over his golden fur and decide to cut my run short. Just for today. Since it's Saturday and I almost had a asthma attack. Really though I worked all night and I just really want to go surfing. Owen, my best friend is probably awake by now so i'll call him when I get home, like I do everyday and then we'll go surfing. Easy breezy.

 A typical day. I take one last deep breath, in an attempt to fill my lungs up with as much oxygen as I possibly can. I pop my ear buds back in, unpause my song, and then turn around. Sammy happily obliges. He might be a good runner, but as soon as we get home he'll sleep. Probably for the rest of the day.

I start my way back home, staying close to the rising tide. Close enough for the water to touch my trainers, but not close enough for them to get soaked and my socks to get wet. Nothings worse than wet socks. It's a well known fact. It's the perfect distance from the ever blue sea plus the perfect distance away from the tourists that are starting to crowd the beach. They're coming to see the sun come up. It's a sight that I've seen plenty of times before, but the beauty of it never really does cease to amaze me. Owen has painted the scene in front of me dozens of times before, but not even his artistic ability can truly capture the beauty of it. No paintings can. No piece of art. It is by far my favorite part of living here. It always will be. It's just something that never gets old.