My Favourite Memory

I remember waking up and realizing that day was going to be different than any other day I had ever lived. Maybe it was the feeling of anticipation I woke up with, that niggling voice at the back of my mind that told me to live that day to the fullest, or it could have simply been the scorching heat of the sun that had seeped into my room that reminded me that this was the first day of summer.

All I know is that hours later, I was crouching on the sand, holding a water balloon in one hand and the hose on the other, a grin plastered on my face as I fought with my cousins like our lives depended on it.

One of my cousins, Alejandra, was hiding behind a plastic trashcan that sat beside the wooden path. It was the perfect place for her to hide, and no one would have seen her deadly projectiles coming, had it not been for the startling red hair that we could see peeking from above the lid.

My other cousin, Ximena, was sitting right beside me as we ducked behind the small sand dune that had formed. Our mischievous minds had decided to form an impromptu alliance, as we had figured that we had more chances of beating them if we worked together and not against each other, not that we knew what beating them entailed.

We sprang from behind the dune and charged at Alejandra; I was wielding my hose like a mighty sword, and handling the water balloon as if it was the most dangerous bomb ever invented, and Ximena was throwing her water grenades at her sister. All in all, we felt as if we were waging the battle that would define our lives.

Alejandra retaliated in kind, as without us noticing she had roped my little sister, Carolina, into being her unlikely ally. And just like that the sides were drawn. We were bombarded and sprayed, and with no place to look for cover we ended up completely soaked.

After our balloons were spent and the battle ended, we threw ourselves onto the sand and rolled in it, giggling like fools. There were no hard feelings after the fight, seeing as we couldn’t bring ourselves to figure out who had won and who had lost; it was simply another adventure our young selves had to add to a growing pile stories.

The day is now forever engraved in my mind. The blazing sun above us, the skies lit up in a bright blue color that is so reminiscent of movies, the sand that burnt as it got stuck between my toes, the taste of salt in the air, and our cries of joy and laughter that rang in my ears for many days.