Ain’t she a beaut? It probably won’t be a surprise to anyone that I don’t follow all the rules upon receiving this award. I follow enough rules in my day to day work life that I tend to resist them when I’m expressing myself here on the blog. Call me an anarchist! Or just a lazy idiot! It would be impossible anyway to just nominate 10 of my blog colleagues. I see so much wonderful stuff here every day.
And now for my own day’s post. Since I’m working from home today I decided to sleep out on our deck last night. It’s getting pretty cool here now. The temp dropped into the low 40s and there was a gusting breeze, but I built myself a cocoon of blankets on top of my cot and snuggled down as toasty as a pig in warm mud. Even though I was aware of the occasional ping of acorns or twigs on the deck’s tin roof, I slept wonderfully and feel very rested today.
It’s really a different experience sleeping outside. I could hear the constant murmur of the breeze, and feel it caressing the cot. I heard night birds and a few other critters I couldn’t name. The chill in the air around me increased the pleasure I found in being warm and snug. It's the contrast effect, I guess. The awareness of contrast somehow enhances my emotional feelings.
I remember when I was a kid, during the winter, when it would get cold as could be in my room at night because we had such a big drafty house. And even though I was snug under the covers, I'd deliberately stick my foot out and let it get cold so I could draw it back under the quilt and feel the enveloping warmth. And I remember when we’d have winter rains and I’d pull a chair up close to the edge of our porch, snuggle up in a blanket, and read there where droplets of chill mist could drift over me.
I guess it's hard to understand and appreciate the good unless you’ve experienced the bad. How can you truly know warmth if you’ve never known cold? How can you understand the true wonders of a good meal unless you’ve gone hungry? I guess I have to be thankful for the women who broke my heart when I was younger, or else I wouldn’t understand now how wonderful my life is with Lana.
I am truly blessed.
