love letter to home

My state has had a tough stretch with severe weather days, ones that crush life as it has always been known, ones that could have been worse, but were the worst for a small handful of towns. This year, with the weight of the previous months brushing against me or piling onto my shoulders, I've found the weather unease to be more complex to navigate. Normally I'm aware, but I don't feel it so deeply in my bones. The last round felt ungrounding. 

As local meteorologists described the components that were primed for long range, violent tornadoes to come through the metro, as their faces held sincere concern, I held a small backpack and had to decide what would go with me just in case. A tiny, tiny touch of my life. I didn't want to lose all the pieces, the memories, the simple collections, the words and the worlds. 

Once the simple and pragmatic steps had been taken for prep, I did my usual practice of energetic protection, connecting with the atmospheric spirits and guardians of the land. Then I made a yummy dinner and simply waited, watched, breathed. 

And! For our whole area, it was fine. It surprised the meteorologists. I'm beyond deeply thankful that we were once again safe. The next day gifted blue skies and sunshine, like the intensity of the previous day didn't even exist and we could move with ease, normalcy, and joy.  

All places have risks, and life itself is the ultimate risk. Normally I view that risk with curiosity. With the unsettled feeling of this last weather event, though, I thought it might be good to write a simple love letter to my state, my home, my sense of place...
 

I love this land  

because when I was a child, I climbed its trees, tunneled through its tall grasses, jumped its fences, and the dirt beneath my nails helped make me. because its moody skies and wild storms clear energy and sometimes cause thrill. because the wind through the prairie sounds like ocean, and waterfalls over skin feel like freedom. because wide open space means wide open sky, and the colors steal breath even as they give it.

I love this land

because when I walk the land, the fields and forests, paths I've taken before and ones fresh to me, I feel the land hold me, just as I feel it wrap me embrace when I return to its borders.

I love this land 

because people I love live here. because I bought a home with one of the people I love most, birthed babies, planted herbs, and let the wild touch our space, touch us. because  my own children have covered their skin with mud, made fairy homes of sticks and flowers, strewn bird feeders and love throughout its days.

I love this land 

because the sun shines more than it doesn't here.