Wind, Glorious Wind

The wind howled all night, whipping trees and tossing flower petals outside my window. Forever in my life I have adored the wind. 
As a child in a boarding school in the hills of South India, lying awake in my bed at night, the fierce wind was my passionate friend. All of the sounds of this land in the dark, were supported and pulled together by the wind.  During school breaks, on the plains, in the heat,  the mounting winds meant that a heart stopping downpour was eminent and all behavioral constraints could be lifted. My sister and I danced and splashed wildly in drenched clothes and hair and laughed with hysterical joy, not having to explain.
The Santa Ana winds in California have born a new feeling, one that carries this original imprinting but is now mixed with uneasiness, as the word ‘fire’ is connected. Santa Anas and fire, together,  are real. One more lesson in choice and surrender. Does the possibility of fire diminish my delight in and connection to my love of wind?
And so on this morning, the first day of this new year, eyes closed, wind, glorious wind.
I love you, wind, and I will ride whatever it is that you blow my way.Forever in my life I have adored you and fear will not diffuse this.
Thank you for waking me up this morning.