Free Bird

It's a blustery day. A "winds-day". (If you love Winnie the Pooh, you got that.) The wind is gusting at about 35 mph. Our funky little cottage is shifting and sighing. It's strong wind that makes you pause and listen. Analiese and I were standing at the back door watching the trees bend when she said,

"I love the wind. I love the sound. The shush. I want to be married in wind like this with petals and leaves twirling all around."

Then she ran outside, threw her hands up in the air, and let the wind flow through her. She twirled around and laughed and fell down. And leaves actually swirled around her as she stood up again. She stood and felt the wind.

I love this child of mine because she feels things. She feels the wind and rain, the flowers and the leaves. When she cries, she wails. When she laughs, she laughs loud. No emotion is felt softly. When I carried her they told us her heart was fragile. When she was born they told us she was healed. But, though her physical heart was fine, she was born with a fragile spirit heart. All things are felt with an intense freedom that few people have. She is a free spirit. Free to dance in the wind with abandon. I hope she never loses this freedom. Though I fear the vanity and self consciousness of the teen years will dampen it, I pray that she escapes those awkward days with her spirit intact. That at 16, 25, 40, and 80 she will throw her hands in the air and twirl in the wind. I hope she does get married in wind like this. She would be a beautiful clothed in white with petals and leaves twirling all around.