Little Prairie Baby

The sun peaked in through the bedroom window, but it wasn't stillness that flooded my senses. I woke up with a start listening to donk, donk, donk on our roof. It's an old roof with moss growing overtop the cedar shakes and those darned warblers were...

Every time I climb the old wooden hill, I pause and take a peek out of the upstairs window - the country's green right now.
My kids see the ocean waves in the deep, bending hay when the prairie wind let's 'er blow.
I hear their tiny mouths talk about the grass being belly deep on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and wonder will their kids know those same cow trails?...

I came into the world on the icy winter wind. A prairie blizzard - one you can't know unless you have lived here.
I was prairie raised and think some of my strength isn't me.
It comes from those prairie roots that are all knotted up with my own tangled faith. A faith that is bolstered by the streaks of colour across the big sky on the bleakest winter days....

While some people continue their Christmas festivities on Boxing Day, possibly in jammies relishing in the fact the family marathon is over, or braving the city streets to look for good deals - I like to vacuum behind the couch.
Every year I pull that beast out and give it a good vacuum, while cleaning up the big ol' mess that Christmas seemed to spew all over the house. Unfortunately, this year the biggest mess couldn't really be vacuumed, it was more in the air....