delight in the wind - and the phone

it was my morning to sleep in.
but i woke up early.
and heard the wind outside.

i got filled with that feeling i had when i was a kid and it snowed -
the one where you couldn't get outside fast enough.

i knew i had work to do.
i knew i had some things to take care of.

didn't matter.
the wind was calling.

so i bundled up and headed out.

over three hours later i dragged myself inside.
still not wanting to leave the wind.
having my own yard to goof around in is the best thing ever.

hours and hours later after doing the things i needed to do
i returned a very special call.

the nite before when i got home, there was a message waiting for me.
from a neighbor from my youth i grew up with.
i used to babysit his kids,
and his wife was like a second mom to me.
we share some mega fun life together.
it was the teen years and they were such sports about chaos.
i smile whenever i think of them.

she passed several years ago, and he fell out of life.
he recently had decided to get back into life,
and there he was on my answering machine.

i called him back.
and he sounded just like he used to.
wow.
memories flooded in.
'do you remember......' i started asking him,
and we laughed and we certainly remembered.
we caught up and i heard names i hadn't heard in years and years.

when i told him that i smiled such a big smile when i heard his message,
his response was 'i can just picture it.'

that grabbed my heart a bit.
cause i knew he could.
cause he watched me grow up.

i heard how he was, how the kids were, the grandkids.......
gosh, it was hard to believe all the ages of everyone.

and i filled him in on how i was.
i heard myself say 'i love to be in my yard.'
i grinned when i heard that.
like who cares?
what kinda thing is that to say when you're filling someone in on your life
after years and years???
i heard myself talking and i sounded happy and good.
really happy.
really good.
cause i was.
his reaction was gold to me.
he sounded so pleased for me.
genuinely happy with me.

delight sizzled across the phone lines.

when i hung up i thought about it.
i was 12 when i met him and his wife.
12.
and now....forty years later.....i heard myself describe my life.

i could never have guessed way way way back then where i would go
or how i would be.....the losses. the gains, the beliefs shattered, the new
beliefs growing, the learning, the love....

but i think if i could have picked this,
i would have.
all of it.
even the stinky parts.

and that is way way cool.