It's amazingly warm and blustery tonight - I have my windows open and I can hear my flag pulling at it's lanyard, the brass fittings clanging into the pole. My willow is making the most amazing sounds, the leaves dancing, the branches straining under the wind.
I had the occassion to sit back and let a wave of negative energy and pain crest and pass over me today, like holding my breath and diving beneath a crashing wave, and now I find myself almost giddy with happy appreciation for the littlest things around me.
I walked upstairs and stepped carefully over dozens of train tracks and cars and dolls and fortified positions, pots and pans, stacks of clean clothes, book bags, a painting of a Christmas tree . . . and rearranged the covers around my three children.
They all slept so peacefully, despite the rain lashing at their windows, the scrape of branches against the roof, the storm flexing it's muscles. I touched their foreheads with a kiss and walked back downstairs with a smile; blessed beyond measure.
Now the cat and I are going to re-heat Thanksgiving leftovers and have a feast, cornbread dressing, cranberries and all!! And watch movies. And stay up late.