This place I’ve only been to once before. During the summer it is a deserted place, where the sun’s so hot that when you get out of the pool, you’re completely dry in ten minutes. It reminds me of Hollywood being abandoned. There are lots of memories left behind very recently like everything was put on hold. The only smells are of dry pavement and palm trees. The night comes so late you feel like it is already tomorrow, like each day drifts into another, never ending. Only the bright stars in the finally darkened sky and the tired ache of your body, remind you that it is night. Time to sleep off exhaustion so great you could sleep for months; in peaceful hibernation that you long not to end. Each day you may do as you please because there are no interruptions, no signs of the real world. You forget you’re even alive as no one else is there to share it with you. Just my family and I lost in a mirage where time does not exist. Like a lost camel in the middle of the desert, they search for life everywhere, but only find reminders of it. Restaurants of pleasant people bring the feeling of fresh baked cookies and cocoa at grandma’s house. It is a feeling of comfort you only recognize from lazy days at home with your family, curled up in front of the fire, never thinking of the future. My only thought, what is happening now. The future brings no meaning to me because I am in an ageless place. Then snapped back to reality, as passing cars reassure me that I am in fact still in the real world. I come back to a place that has become unfamiliar, because this place of peace has taken me away from worry or doubt. Life hasn’t stopped, vacation is over, and the everlasting sun turns into the simple scorching heat that makes me tired to even breathe. I’ve returned from this dream, brightly awakened like the sparkling lights of dawn. Goodbye Palm Springs.