Revelry

I let my head fall back, and I gazed into the Eternal Blue Sky. It was morning. Some of the sky was yellow, some the softest blue. One small cloud scuttled along. Strange how everything below can be such death and chaos and pain while above the sky is peace, sweet blue gentleness. I heard a shaman say once, the Ancestors want our souls to be like the blue sky.  

          ~Shannon Hale, Book of a Thousand Days

She is not usually a morning person... sleep comes late at night, and lately it is fitful, due in part to a throbbing shoulder burdened with arthritis. It usually takes a mug of coffee and a few minutes sitting up in bed for her to come to.

This morning, however, she arose before 8 am. The weather was predicted to be hot and humid-- and perhaps a thunderstorm or two, just to remind her she was in Indiana and it was July. Her rising was greeted enthusiastically by the dog, who ran to his food dish in the kitchen and waited... and she silently scooped out the kibbles into his dish. Then she went to make a fresh pot of coffee. Her head was not yet clear...and that coffee would help.

Checking the indoor/outdoor thermometer, which indicated it was 77 degrees, she took the coffee outside and sat down at the deck table. Laptop in hand, her intent was to read emails and conduct usual morning business...

The air was soft. A slight breeze brought the scent of the flowers from her garden. A song sparrow was singing in the tree closest to the house, and was answered by a second sparrow in the distance. Other than the breeze and the birds, it was quiet-- too early for mowing grass or children to be out playing. She sipped her coffee... she breathed in the fresh air and felt the breeze... she smelled the flowers and listened to the song of the sparrow... And she woke up.