feeling the wind

I step from the house to accompany the dog outside and steal a momentary escape.

Behind me thirty toes are wild and my patience is thin.
An autumn wind is blowing, the air is crisp and I breathe – deeply.  I have probably been holding my breath most of the day.

I let myself feel the sensation of this air moving over me, cool and replenishing.  I walk out into it and breathe a little deeper yet.

The sunflowers in the garden are moving wildly.  Some have broken in the wind and they hang over, their heads near the ground.  The others dance as the wind moves through them.  And I begin to feel free.

I turn back toward the house, thirty toes have gathered in the doorway.  When I invite them out my daughter’s smile explodes and she dashes into the yard.

“Let’s run in the wind before bath time” I say, and she has no hesitation – she runs wildly, arms open, the embodiment of freedom.

Her brothers follow suit, one less sure than the other so I scoop him up and we run together.

I want to feel this wind forever –its perfect threshold of strength and temperature, just on the brink of discomfort – I feel alive.

My children giggle and all I really see are flashes of them in this blur of movement and sensation.

“I am chilly” one says, and we begin to move back toward the door; back toward our inner world where warm, still air will greet us and we will resume our activities of closing the day.

But now I have breath and I am thankful.

The hours yet to come will have peaks and valleys but the wind will blow through them and I am thankful.



With gratitude,
Joanna