Windy Days

It was a windy day, a really windy day. Weather in Georgia is pretty mild when you watch the news. There was a bad tornado in Pensacola, Florida. We were supposed to have a horrible storm last night. What happened was plenty of wind.

I don't know what it is about windy days but I love them. There is so much energy. It puts me in a reflective mood. Today was Wednesday - Senior Citizen Discount day at the grocery stores here. My favorite senior citizen loves to grocery shop. So I got time to reflect. If I could only not be so sleepy when I stop and read.

My big thing today was to look at how we all dress. When it is windy and chilly, we all dress pretty much with what we have. Lots of gray hoodies and jeans and folks my age lost in seventies. I meant to run back in the house and slip out of my Capri jeans with silver sparkles off for a pair of regular jeans. Some of us dress to be covered.

I had on what I call in my mind a clown suit. My sweatshirt looks like a professional business top which it actually is. It was the shoes, cream colored sneakers that look like regular shoes that made the clown suit. I'm one of those women with a big body and long thin legs. I should have worn a black pair of shoes and changed pants.

One man had on a pair of Atlanta Falcon pajama bottoms, a gray t-shirt, and a red pin striped long sleeved shirt worn like a jacket. His gray beard was carefully trimmed and his longish hair was well cut, it was definitely an ensemble. A woman in her seventies had a stylish brown jacket and designer jeans on her slim, hunched frame. We dress like we want to be. We dress like what we have. We dress like where we are in the world.

One man had a pair of jeans, knit top and dark blue dress blazer, the aging rock star look. Nearby was an attractive black male who had an expensive shirt not tucked in. The shirt was made to not be tucked in. He looked so upper middle class. I thought of telling him to tuck his shirt in with a smile. He was clearly in a hurry. No time for nonsense.

My favorite was the young woman in her thirties. Blue sweater, dark pants and calf length boots that are for sale everywhere. They have such a short frame to push winter clothes here.

Heck I had a hard time walking past a pair of boots that were 70 percent off a couple of weeks ago. Maybe that is why I wore a clown suit. But I got to keep my Feng Shui resolution and not buy so much stuff. I do think I need to slow down and pick my clothes a wee better.

I am lucky in that I was born with a satisfied mind. There is a woman I encounter in one of the grocery stores to the point that I converse with her. Today, I ran into her in the restroom and there was only one sink. It was obvious, she has a hand washing ritual. I told her I was not in a hurry which was totally the truth. She knows my mom loves to grocery shop.

The conversation unfolds about her feelings about shopping. The last line still lingers. Her husband smokes and drinks heavily. I know he is disabled and she is working two jobs. Her son recently married and her daughter goes to UGA. I also know she is 56. On the outside looking in, I think. You still have so much. Don't give up.

I do know that our lives get so overloaded. When I was in my twenties, there was a bumper sticker that said "Life is a Bitch". Mentally, I would agree. This point in my life feels like my twenties without as much angst. What doesn't go well, is going to happen.  At least my mind is still good.

When the wind blows so much, the weather is changing rapidly. I remember one good windy day. It had been rainy and cold. Within hours, it was still chilly but the sun was bright with a blue sky filled with puffy fair weather clouds. I loved rushing through the house in the evening as a kid closing windows when a thunderstorm approached.

I grew up in a house that no matter where you stood, you could look out a window. Homes were built for ventilation and to control the heat in summer. Winter was short. You dressed heavily and hunkered down until it passed. Everyone sat in the kitchen where it was warm. I remember heating the bathroom with a bathtub of hot water to bathe. Life was good. I just did not know it at the time.