Lonesome Dove

This morning I was up very early, around 2:30 a.m., and was wishing there was something to listen to beside the manmade noises around me. Sometimes I wish for the clarity of a desert sky, no clouds, no recent sandstorm to dust us like a powdered donut, just a moon, stars, and the call of a coyote. As dawn slowly comes, I long to hear the sound of the morning dove. The soft cooing that is too beautiful and soulful you just know in heart and mind that God is the creator of everything because nothing that wonderful could be an "big bang" event. Just remembering the sound in my inner ear encourages me to try and listen for more messages that God is nearby.

Well, the desert is far away from me these days and even farther than my childhood but I can still conjure up the smells of rain in the desert, the softness of big snowflakes landing on my tongue, the grit of sand in my teeth including coating my tongue by an incoming sandstorm, the strength of a mighty wind that would literally blow me down when I tried to walk home from school in the wind (I weighed in at 36 pounds in first grade - a little girl), and the colors of the sunsets on the rugged mountains. I felt like a little mouse sometimes trying to crawl away from the prey until I got in the front door in those storms.

Well, guess I am feeling a little melancholy tonight. The weather teased us last week with temperatures in the upper 70's and today was windy and in the upper 40's. Can't wait for the cold weather to slam into spring the way it does in Texas - with big, bold thunderclouds, torrential rains, eerie green skies that warn of hail and maybe something worse.

Don't know why I feel so like a lonesome dove...all is well, all is well. My mantra will carry me through until the sun once again comes up and the dove begin to coo, the air will feel soft from the humidity, and the sound of my grandchildren's voices make me giggle again.