{"id":339,"date":"2025-09-11T10:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T10:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.everestthemes.com\/viable\/demo\/?p=339"},"modified":"2025-09-22T07:18:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T07:18:46","slug":"summer-pose-on-the-sunshine-bright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/?p=339","title":{"rendered":"Summer pose on the sunshine bright"},"content":{"rendered":"
The summer sun spilled over the gym\u2019s open windows, turning the blue walls golden and making the white lilacs on the bench glow like little stars. Lila stood in the center of the mat, her purple wristband glinting, as a group of kids circled her, their eyes wide. \u201cOkay, let\u2019s try a summer pose!\u201d she said, her voice bright as the sunlight. \u201cStand tall, arms out like you\u2019re catching the sun, one leg slightly lifted\u2014like you\u2019re dancing with the light.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I leaned against the old wooden bench, my sketchbook open, watching her. The sun hit her hair, turning the dark strands honey-colored, and when she lifted her leg into the pose, her white gymnastic leotard looked like it was glowing. \u201cThat\u2019s perfect, Coach Lila!\u201d Mia shouted, copying the pose, her small arms outstretched. Lila laughed, adjusting Mia\u2019s shoulder gently. \u201cSee? It\u2019s easy when you let the sun guide you.\u201d I smiled, my pencil moving quickly to capture the moment\u2014the way Lila\u2019s eyes crinkled when she laughed, the way the sunlight wrapped around her like a hug, the kids\u2019 tiny summer poses all around her.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
After class, the kids ran off to get ice cream, leaving Lila and me alone in the gym. She walked over to the bench, wiping sweat from her forehead, and sat down beside me. \u201cDid you get the pose?\u201d she asked, nodding at my sketchbook. I flipped to the page, and her face softened. \u201cYou made it look like magic,\u201d she said, tracing the lines of her own figure with her finger. \u201cThe sunlight\u2014you drew it like it\u2019s alive.\u201d I closed the sketchbook, taking her hand. \u201cIt is alive, when you\u2019re in it. Summer pose on the sunshine\u2026 it\u2019s not just a pose. It\u2019s you.\u201d She leaned over, kissing me, and the taste of her strawberry lip balm mixed with the warm summer air.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That weekend, we decided to take the kids to the park for a \u201csummer gymnastics picnic.\u201d We spread a blue blanket on the grass (matching the gym\u2019s walls) and brought white lilac bouquets to set on the corners. Lila led the kids in more summer poses\u2014cartwheels in the sunlight, handstands against the oak trees, splits where they pretended to be flowers opening. I sat on the blanket, sketching, until Lila called me over. \u201cYour turn!\u201d she said, pulling me up. \u201cSummer pose\u2014with me.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She stood behind me, her hands on my waist, and we lifted our arms together, our legs slightly crossed, facing the sun. \u201cSee?\u201d she whispered in my ear. \u201cIt\u2019s better together.\u201d I turned to kiss her, and the kids cheered, throwing small white flower petals (they\u2019d picked them from the park\u2019s lilac bush) over us. The sunlight, the laughter, the feel of Lila\u2019s hands on my waist\u2014it was like the summer had wrapped us up in a perfect moment. I thought of the gym\u2019s blue walls, the old bench, the white lilacs, and smiled. This was our story\u2014summer poses, sunshine, and love that felt like home.<\/div>\n
That night, we hung my new sketch (of us in the summer pose, surrounded by kids and lilacs) on the gym\u2019s blue wall, next to the photo of Lila\u2019s grandma. \u201cGrandma would\u2019ve loved this park day,\u201d Lila said, leaning her head on my shoulder. I nodded, staring at the sketch. \u201cShe is here\u2014 in the sunlight, in the lilacs, in the way you make everyone feel safe.\u201d Lila kissed my cheek, and we walked over to the bench, sitting down to watch the last of the summer sun set through the gym\u2019s windows.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A few weeks later, Mr. Torres hung a new sign above the gym\u2019s entrance: \u201cSummer Poses & Sunshine\u2014All Welcome.\u201d The kids made a collage of their summer pose drawings and taped it next to my sketch, and Lila added a pressed white lilac to the center. \u201cIt\u2019s like a family album,\u201d she said, grinning. I wrapped my arm around her, and we stood there, looking at the collage, the blue walls, the old bench. It was all of us\u2014past, present, future\u2014dancing in the summer light.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
On the last day of summer, we sat on the park\u2019s blue blanket, eating lilac cookies (from Lila\u2019s grandma\u2019s recipe) and watching the sunset. Lila took my hand, and we did our summer pose one more time, facing the pink and orange sky. \u201cHey,\u201d she said, laughing, \u201cWhere are your eyes? HUH?\u201d I looked at her\u2014her hair glowing in the sunset, her purple wristband, her smile\u2014and said, \u201cRight here. Always on you. On us. On the summer that made our love even brighter.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Love isn\u2019t just about the big moments\u2014the gym renovations, the bench celebrations, the park picnics. It\u2019s about the small, sunny moments: a summer pose in the light, a sketch that captures a laugh, a cookie that tastes like grandma\u2019s love. It\u2019s about Lila, with her fierce heart and her love for kids, and me, with my sketchbook and my love for all the little pieces of her.<\/div>\n
And it\u2019s about summer pose on the sunshine\u2014two people, one perfect moment, and a love that shines as bright as the summer sun, all year long.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The summer sun spilled over the gym’s open windows, turning the blue walls golden and making the white lilacs on the bench glow like little stars. Lila stood in the center of the mat, her purple wristband glinting, as a group of kids circled her, their eyes wide. “Okay, let’s try a summer pose!” she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xsslovedating.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}