The Wind (not in the willows)

There is an insistent persistent wind blowing outside. Not one of those gentle ‘ruffle a few leaves’ or perhaps tousle your hair winds. Oh no. Not one of those at all. This one demands to be heard, to be seen, to be felt. It is shaping and forming the landscape in ways that are so subtle we might miss it, but we all know that wind erosion is a force of nature. It leaves stunning formations in its wake.

And I feel a kinship with this wind today. It’s a voice that demands to be heard. It echoes an aspect of me that desires to be seen. To be understood. Too often I feel like a lone voice in a busy noisy world. To add possibly one too many metaphors to this piece, I feel like that soupy mess inside the chrysalis that is forming its shape, its size, its colours, its desire to get out there, to do what it was born to do — and to enjoy the breathtakingly beauty that is this planet.

I am sitting listening to the wind. To what it has to say. The loudest phrase I hear is ‘I care’.

This is a phrase I identify with deeply. I care. About me. About you. About others. About the way forward out of this pandemic. About the negative impact it has had on us. Yes, there are some amazing benefits too. Time. For some, too much time, which has unsettled them. On the other hand, I have discovered how much I am willing to embrace my inner hedgehog. I could sit in a little hermitage and enjoy each day, writing, reading, crafting (don’t ask, it is way less creative than you’d imagine) I am also noticing that I feel most fulfilled with activities that require little contact with the outside world. I still need balance, though. I am not quite ready to be a hermit. I am too much a people’s person, a fresh air fiend, to stay cloistered within four walls.

Another phrase that I hear on the wind as it forces raindrops to sound almost like bullets hitting the windows and roof is ‘scattered’ This could be the best description of me right now. My thoughts are not neat and tidy ducks in a row. Not one bit like that at all. Far more akin to a disparate group of animals who have been released from cages in a zoo and are ready, willing, and able to go on an adventure to end all adventures!

The last bit of information this wind is giving me today is clarity. A wind blowing at gale force like this, across the moors I see outside my window, certainly ‘clears the air’ The view seems clearer. Crisper. And in the brief moments between showers, when the sun shines through, it is as if the fields have been painted the brightest of greens.

This wind is a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps I am too.