The Wind Is My Friend

From the time Ben was a baby up until he was nearly four, he feared the wind.
It would blow in his face and he would cover his eyes and cry or run to me and hide his face against my chest.
So we spent a lot of time talking up wind and praising its virtues.
It blows the trees and makes them dance, it creates energy, it helps the trees shed their leaves so that they can change seasons, it carries seeds for new flowers to grow, it cools us when we are hot; and so on.
Our catch phrase was, “The wind is our friend”. He started saying it to himself when the wind would blow in his face and eventually he believed it.
Today I walked down Main Street to run an errand and there was a happy wind blowing. It blew through my hair and whispered in my ears, it pressed gently all around me and it was strong enough that when I put my hands out, I pushed against something firm and yet not graspable. Today the wind emulated a lingering hug from an old friend and I remembered what we had taught our son, “Oh yes, the wind is my friend.”

*Note* Photo was taken by Pnina Evental