#70 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS -- WIND

“Look what I came home to,” said our daughter, Kim. 

SHATTERED GLASS TABLETOP THANKS TO WIND

Shattered glass under the iron table, that’s what she came home to after a weekend reunion with seven high school girlfriends who flew from all parts to be with her in Santa Fe. A young desert wind whipping by saw Kim was gone; saw a chance to flex muscle when it spotted an open umbrella.

 I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down,” said Wind.

Only, thank goodness, it did not challenge the house. There, near the aspen tree lies its victim. I’m guessing Wind charged under the umbrella, blew hard, like a little kid whose parent puts a tissue to its nose, and lifted the thing. I imagine umbrella’s shock at being assaulted. Who wouldn’t grab for something hoping to stay in place. I’m guessing umbrella clutched the heavy glass just long enough to lift it an inch or two before crying, “Uncle,” before it lost its hold on the glass, dropping it, and before Wind dropped the umbrella by the tree, having had enough of its game.

Our daughter didn’t need this. The wind was knocked out of her four weeks ago when her husband of thirty-four years died. What a word, “Wind.”

 We want it at our back, even though Winston Churchill reminded us that kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. I hope this makes sense to you, the reader, but we have to be not overly hurt to have Churchill’s encouragement inspire us. Whatever do we mean when we throw caution to the wind? Fear is like a cold wind whipping through us, we say. We talk about getting a second wind when our energies are sapped. We let the wind carry away our worries. We can’t change the wind’s direction, but we say we can adjust the sails to harness it. Sometimes, sure. We feel freedom with wind in our hair. Our spirit soars. And oh, that word, spirit.

 It was Wind, ruach, the Hebrew word for spirit, that described what God threw over chaos to quiet the waters when the earth was created. It was pneuma, wind, or spirit, that entered an upper room and blew the Christian movement into being. We can name the gods of the wind belonging to Hindus, Greeks, Roman, Japanese, Norse: Vayu, Zephyrus, Venti, Fǔjin, and Njord. Even the word Kamikaze means “divine wind.”

It is a breath of air that we watch for in anything newborn; its absence warns us of impending death. Wind is air in motion; its new presence and finally its absence, knocks the wind out of us. Wind will, say those that study such things, start disappearing in approximately five billion years from now when the sun begins to die. Don’t hold your breath.

 Wind is air in motion, caused by the uneven heating of the earth by the sun. It moves horizontally, parallel to the earth’s surface. It can be a gentle breeze, or the 253mph gust that in 1996 blew up in Barrow Island, Australia. Of course, we humans, can’t leave well enough alone. We created a gust of wind equivalent to 3,100mph with our nuclear detonations.

 It is invisible, this thing called wind, this thing that picked up an umbrella and a glass tabletop. Sometimes we see what it carries along, but we can’t see “it.” That’s a bit like grief, wouldn’t you say? It is felt. It is powerful, even when quiet. Sometimes, we who are friends can see what grief carries along in a person we love. We may not see “it” exactly, but we can find the dustpan and broom, and gather some of what’s been shattered.

Kim’s friends