My Favorite Dessert

Dutch apple pie. Tart Granny Smiths. Crispy nutty pastry with crystal sugar and grains of crushed cinnamon, just enough. Lacey frosting drawn with almond and lemon. One perfectly formed scoop of the richest speckled vanilla ice cream. (Blue Bunny, I asked.) A thick bubble glass mug of straight Kenyan plantation coffee, strong and smooth. The sparkling smile of a Cajun waitress with bottomless azure ocean eyes. Just Desserts in Las Cruces after midnight. A burgundy horizon in the summer desert when the breeze ruffles the mint striped umbrellas and wafts a hint of the Mesilla lilacs onto the flagstone patio. Flickering ocotillo silhouettes in torchlight. The crust of an active day in the heat, the challenge of another. Close friends, banter, laughter, love. The realization that it doesn't get better. Life is like that. Dessert first.