Mother Nature: Large and In Charge

It’s winter, so, I shouldn’t BE so SURPRISED how cold it is…but… it’s really COLD! I don’t remember it being so COLD here during the winter. BUT, even more than just the COLD, is the wind. WIND, I should say. It is a WIND of force, blowing with fierceness, reaching through me, and insisting I feel it, hear it, yield to it, which I do. I know my nemesis when it comes a howling. I can do cold. I can deal with breezy. Cold and windy…I’m no match (add rain and I’m definitely done-ski!)

I’m not sure when the DC Metropolitan area became Chicago but we’re certainly giving it a showdown for title this year! Over the past two months, we have had at least 40 days of WINDY, with gusts up to 40 miles an hour and chills registering below 20 degrees. Can you say involuntary chatter just thinking of it?

However, I still try to beat the forces, and yesterday, donning at least 4 layers of clothing, looking like a little kid ready for a blizzard, I trudged out into the fresh air and gentle snow flurries to have a go at running…against the wind. The wind won. Slowest. Run. EVER. I think I’m getting feeling back in my fingers and toes now, six hours later. I ran a local trail around a lake. It’s one of my happy places, which is fortunate, because I got to spend a lot more time there than I had planned. Part of the run is open---completely--to the lake: no trees, no barriers, just a gorgeous open expansive…WINDY stretch. I think it’s only about an eighth of a mile long but today it felt like 8 MILES. Likely, I went backwards more than I went forwards. Gusts off the lake drove snow sideways and took with it every breath I had, leaving me gasping, ironically, for air. Cruel wind.

Along the tree-lined portions, the wind called out, reminding those of us hiding within that it was still there. Wailing across the lake. Whipping through the woods, whistling…rustling leaves and bushes…whirling about the signs of fall, past. Trees arched and ached, cracking and moaning, snapping…and crashing…the wind’s calling card…crying out…I am here…still…it says.

Eventually, I emerged from the woods to do body combat with the wind on the open stretch once more. Winter winds pushing, pulling, totally in control. When done, I bow to the winds and feel ready for a nap. Retreat. Retreat.

Mother nature. No joke!