ALL MY SENSES

At 8, I go to bed....not exhausted...just pleasantly tired after a fulfilling day.
As I lie there, listening to my sleep music, I become so relaxed that I can scarcely determine where my body ends and the bed supporting me begins.

I do not, however, fall asleep.  After an hour, I get up, thinking I will read for a bit.  But, I notice it is raining again. so instead, I go sit in the dark, on my patio.  At first, the rain is soft and gentle and there is a deliciously cool breeze refreshing my bare skin.  The scent of rain on the desert is a heady perfume.  The sound of the rain drops on the tin roof is rhythmic and melodious.  There is a monsoon  light show happening in the sky.  Thunder begins crashing and rolling over the mountains and down into the desert floor.  The storm draws nearer.

All of my senses are wide awake.  I decide I want to add one more sense to the mix......taste........so I go pour myself a glass of wine.  As I sit back down, I quickly realize that it is almost uncomfortably cool with the strengthening wind.

Recently, a dear friend went to Africa.  She brought me a Masai Shuka.  To me, it looks like Scotch plaid.  And, apparently, there is a school of thought that the origin of the pattern came from contact with Scotch missionaries.

https://www.gadventures.com/blog/story-behind-maasais-shuka-cloth/

Back I went, into the house, for the shuka.

Comfortably wrapped in the African-Scotch plaid....I felt completely immersed and submerged in sensual delights of every kind!

I have a new friend. .  She's, obviously, lived in the neighborhood for a long time, but I just noticed her last week when I began spending more time on my patio.  I was sitting in exactly the right position to have the right perspective to finally see her face looking right at me!  She and I have become good friends.  I call her, Stella.  She looks rather fierce, to me.....not scary fierce...but strong and protective fierce.....a warrior woman if I ever saw one!

One of our cats was curled up in the chair next to me.  The other was nestled in the old quilts on the glider.  Stella and I keep company as the storm grows stronger.

I am aware of a profound sense of wonder and one-ness.  I am IN this universe.  This universe is IN me.  I sit in profound peace and beauty-filled bliss!

The rain stops.  The lightning lessens.  The thunder rolls away.  The storm passes.
I go back to bed.
To sleep.

As I write these words, this morning, dawn has broken....cloud remnants hanging over the mountains are turning pink and gold with the rising sun.  I am aware that monsoon season is nearly over and soon, we will go for weeks or even months with little or no rain. 

Two weeks ago, tonight, is when I went to the Emergency Room and wound up in the hospital.   I began my own new season....these new days of my beautiful new life!

A NEW DAY HAS BEGUN.

I AM GRATEFUL.

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I  have just written that last sentence in my notebook when I notice a bird swooping into my vision.  It lands, directly in front of me!  It is the Kestrel I've been hearing screeching nearby but have not seen in a very long time.  Welcome back, my friend.