TIRED

My emotions are in flux this past week and each day had been a challenge for me in some way.

I'm quite tired...my eyes have been heavier than usual in the evening hours as they are at this very moment. The heaviness is so overpowering and coupled with the low hum of the refrigerator, the rhythmic tick of the dining room clock and the steady drone of the dehumidifier as it ascends the basement steps, I feel as if I'm being lulled to sleep.

The warmth of the house comforts me upon my return from Romel's walk. The frigid wind bit at my body as it whirled through the layers protecting my skin, but I found myself somewhat distracted by the light snow that was falling. I could see the flakes as they passed beneath the street lamp and fell to the asphalt below, finding their rightful place amongst the millions of other flakes of snow that blanketed the streets from the previous week. It was as if the snow flakes represented the countless thoughts in my mind, each piling up- one on top of the other- over and over-only to be melted away in time by the fresh new beginning of spring.

With my hat pulled down low over my forehead, I carefully navigated the maze-like path mapped out for me by the accumulated plowed and piled white mounds. The stark albeit simultaneously beautiful cold put me in a trance as I walked - Romel at point. Head lowered, in order to protect my cheeks from the burn of the cold flakes, I followed his lead and retraced his paw prints with the outine of my boot.... left...right....left....right...left...right...the cadence only interrupted momentarily by the sweet ringing of a windchime carried towards me by the chilly breeze ...its origin unknown but its effects magical.

Maybe the melt is closer than I imagined...