Yesterday evening. 6:55 p.m. Still at the office. I shut down my PC, grab the loose papers from my desk and toss them into my brief case. I throw on my coat and step into the hallway. It’s quiet, still. No phones ringing. No printers running. No overhead hum, the HVAC is shut down. Everyone has gone home. The building rests.
I walk to the garage. It’s been a Long week. Unexpected (and serious) issues flare up, soaking up the free oxygen. Yet, you like that don’t you? Good to be needed. Great to be needed. DK, what did you want to be when you grew up? A Firefighter, of course. Superman-DK running into burning buildings, his Cape flapping behind him, carrying out Babies. Like that, sort of, of the Suit Kind.
I’m in the car. Temperature read-out is 49° F. I’m on the tail end of rush hour. Traffic is flowing. Roads are dry. Spring, come, Now.
I slide the window down. The cool wind washes over my face, a light anesthetic, and the moment spins back passages from Sarah McColl’s “Joy Enough“, my new book in flight.
“I felt it first as a space, like a window thrown open and then a breeze through the bedroom.”
And then Sarah rises again:
“There was a breeze that day, and my hair was gathered into a ponytail, I could feel the air move at the nape of my neck.”
And then Sarah one more time:
“There were no cars on the road, and the hem of my skirt fluttered at my knees in the humid breeze.”
And with this, the weight of the week lifts, the tightness in my shoulders and neck releases, and Bliss rises.
With one eye on the road and the other on my iPhone, I flick down my Favorites playlist, turn the volume up, and then one more extra turn, and hit play. Summer Breeze by Seals & Crofts.
See the curtains hangin’ in the window, in the evenin’ on a Friday night
A little light a-shinin’ through the window, lets me know everything is alright
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Notes: Other quotes by Sarah McColl in Joy Enough: A Memoir.” Photo via Of Figs and Roses
