The wind picked up. The clouds became a sea of waves moving rapidly across the sky. As I drove down the country highway, my small Prius jerked in the strength of this weather. I made it to school. Then the gusts blew across the parking lot sending my hair into my freshly lipsticked lips, stuck. Bleh!
Once in the classroom, the windows didn’t rattle, but the roof rumbled like a drumroll. When Madison came in after recess, her hair was wispy around her face, escaping from her pony tail. “The wind is so wild,” she exclaimed, “We had to run in the direction of the wind, so we wouldn’t be blown away.”
A storm is coming. The train whistle echoes across the air like a far off warning. I can’t believe it, the ice cream truck is singing down the street, as if it’s a normal sunny day and children are playing in the streets.
Azaleas that just popped out pink blossoms yesterday will litter the ground by morning. The spooky moss (as some child once called it) is spookier as it wanders in the shadows of the oaks.
I want to laugh about the wind. I want to run in its wake like a child. But there’s this adult person sitting here who has seen the damage wind can do. Who knows what the weather predictions are. So I am guarded and irritable and worried.
Dolly Parton said (according to BrainyQuotes) that storms make trees take deeper roots. This tree that is me wants the storm to go away, yet I’ll put down my roots, stay strong, sway a little more, and take what comes.
This is gorgeous. And interestingly connected to a tree. Hoping you are safe in the storm, deeply rooted.
I love this: storms make trees take deeper roots. I want to save it to remind me when the storms come up.
So packed full of figurative language – it will make the perfect mentor text for your students. They can notice your sensory details, personification, similes, etc. 🙂 I love the Dolly Parton quote! I’m not crazy about wind. It makes me uncomfortable – I, too, think like an adult and worry about damage.
Love the ending, Margaret. The wind is exciting despite the danger it may bring. Your description shows that well. It makes changes, and we go to watch or run with it like your students. I love your words about that spooky moss, too: “it wanders in the shadows of the oaks.” I hope by now the storm has passed!
You described the wind in so many ways – such evocative writing! But, I hope that it passes, too – winds like this can do so much harm.
Love that the tree in you has plans to “put down my roots, stay strong, sway a little more, and take what comes.” What a way to weather the storms that come along. Clouds for me yesterday and wind for you today. I always told my students that weather is a great topic for slicing.
Margaret, you have to keep this post somewhere close by and use it in your books. It is full of awesome descriptions and figurative language. Beautiful writing, my friend!
Thanks, Melanie. Some days the muse comes in on the wind.