Instant Recall

I wrote this post on June 7^th, 2010.  I had come home early from one of Derek's ballgames (ok, more like 8:30 pm, so not too early) to feed the dogs, while the rest of the family was still at the high school baseball field - Derek on the field, Emma and Papa in the stands.  I really must have burned this into my memory because it’s a short moment that I have never forgotten and look back on frequently; both in the horrid heat of the summer and the frigid cold of the winter.  The scents, the calmness, the peace….  

Embracing the darkness that the evening has brought, I am home alone and at this moment my world is still and quiet. The clouds look like a thick blanket in the night sky and the mountains to the east seem to be keeping the busy world on the other side at bay. Fireflies are dancing like fairies in the small wood next to my house and there is the distant rumbling sound of a train whose brakes let out a scream as it rounds a curve. Just a few feet from me a doe is cautiously nibbling the sweet clover in my yard, keenly aware that I am near as she lifts her head every few steps to make sure that I have not moved closer to her. This is one of those gentle, cool summer nights that you try to burn into your memory forever so the thought of it can be retrieved during one of the thick, hot, humid nights yet to come.