Sunrise

There is nothing like the day after a party. A really good party. A party that goes on for hours and hours. Where the food is great and the conversation is better. Where there is a great stockpile of wood for the fire on the beach. Where there are plenty of marshmallows and unbent hangers to go around. Where you don't have to think about going to the grocery store in town to get beer at 10 p.m. because it looks like you might run out in the near future. Where you sit outside under the dark night sky and can see the most amazing display of stars you can imagine. Where you have a contest to see who can find the most shooting stars. Where you can see a reflection of the entire night sky in the amazingly still water of the lake.

And then? There's the next morning. Where you collect beer cans. And dump out beer onto the grass. And smell that beer for the rest of the morning. And find a million cigarette butts everywhere. And you step on hot coals that blew outside of the firepit and continue to smolder. And the marshmallows got wet from the morning dew. And someone left three unopened beers on the ground, letting them get skunky. And someone is talking about breakfast, where, really, all you want to do is vomit quietly in a corner or behind a bush. And the people next door have a saw or something going and, damn, it is really LOUD.

At least we have the sunrise to comfort us.