first time in weeks, actually. i've been slogging through december without much exercise, and i know that my body and soul need me to start moving again. so i chose this pristine winter morning to do it.
it was about 30 degrees out, with low clouds in the sky and the sun barely peeking through the trees. it comes out later here, goes down earlier--i forgot that. somehow 7 o'clock seems like a misnomer, as if mother nature forgot to wind her watch.
this is rural massachusetts, here where my in-laws live. there are cows in very large yards that double as farms, and acres of land for one house. trees everywhere, ponds and rivers and streams still running in this warm december air. flashes of red as cardinals make their way through the sky, their brown-gold mates close behind.
there is majesty in the stillness. there is drama in the fallen trees, barren of leaves, hit hard by the halloween snowstorm a couple months back. this is a story i heard about, read about--it is not my story. this is not my town. not even my state.
funny how the locals here sing praises about the warmth of the winter so far, while my california children and i pray for snow to accumulate in piles around us. at this point, we'd give anything for fat, happy snowflakes in the air, just floating down for us to catch on our tongues.
forty years old, and still waiting for the first snow to come.
something still about this terrain that is singed into me, branded into my skin. i cannot escape the calm and peace that this landscape brings me. it is still the home that hangs around my neck, like a necklace from my best friend in the world. it is the home that shelters all the thoughts and wishes and hopes of the future. it's the home that takes precious little time to remind me of what i am missing when i am so far away.
i'm not sad today. i'm really not. just so grateful for a morning spent with my body moving again, listening to the sounds of the world around me, alternating between live bird calls and the roots on my ipod. hearing this song called "fire" that seals the deal.
my red cheeks are my badge of honor this morning. the cold slices my skin but comforts it at the same time. the beauty of the incongruousness is a wonder to behold.
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