Sitting here with all the windows open — again.

All our windows wide open at the end of July. I’ll take it. And, yes, of course — pumping.

What else would I be doing at 1a.m.? I know there used to be other things I did at this hour but what, for the life of me, I’m trying to remember what it was?

Now that I have an actual task it’s different. I can’t get up and move. I’m confined for at least 30 minutes to sit in one place and be some version of still. Some version because I’m still online and well, we know what a huge unstill distraction that can be.

But I get great opportunities like this one right now … where I’m listening to the serene sound of the wind blowing through the trees. That rustling sound of the leaves touching one another. Ever so slightly turbulent.

I feel like that’s the winds way of helping the leaves to speak … that they, too, are alive. To be thankful for the trees and wind and leaves and plants and flowers and insects and all creatures; all living beings.

Such aliveness that surrounds us, that still continues on despite all odds and outside factors.

All we need to do is look around to know that life can thrive no matter what.