Some mornings, I just wake up feeling off. I had one of those mornings last week, so using the tools I now have, I chose to go out into my back yard and putter about a bit. Even when it's cold, I get my bare feet in the grass, and I do things like pull a couple of weeds or use my clippers to cut down some dried plants at the back of the garage. The fresh air, the cool earth under my feet, and the small sense of accomplishment all have a profound effect on my nervous system.
When I came back inside, I found I'd accidentally brought some things in with me! All of these little "pickers" as my family always referred to them were stuck all over me. The dried leaf was in my hair. The little branch tangled up in the sleeve of my robe. (Yes, I go right out in my jammies!)
I couldn't help but laugh as I plucked each of them off me. As a child I must've pulled a thousand of these little guys from my clothes, and a thousand more from my hair. (They have the ability to create the most spectacular tangled nests in long, fine, little girl hair!)
As I plucked each one off me and set it carefully on a piece of paper, I was flooded with memories of the wild little girl I was, always hanging upside down from a tree, riding my bike no-handed, playing tackle football with my brother and the rest of the boys. She was not afraid of anything. She was probably not afraid of some things she should've been.
Today I celebrate that little girl still inside me, probably with a dust up of dried leaves and brambly branches in her hair, determinedly climbing a tree and hooking her knees over a branch to hang upside down, hair blowing in the breeze, belly button exposed, feeling every bit of the joy of being alive.
Love, Cheri
