Sky Duster

You have to wonder what kind of day lays ahead when you have an appetizer consisting of 2 Advil, 1 Tylenol, and a diet Dr. Pepper before breakfast. Sleep was in short supply last night and I was paying for it this morning. But there was a bright spot in my sleep deprived head throbbing stupor...Yesterday.

Yesterday, was beautiful. Simply beautiful.

It was one of those days we are blessed with during the cold, dark winter that gives us hope that spring really is coming and that sun and warmth are not lost. A beacon of light in what seems like an endless night and I couldn't get enough.

So you will understand my disappointment when I woke this morning to cloudy gray skies and rain. I had planned to do a road run this morning, but decided against it, after I walked the boys to school and found the rain had frozen making the road and sidewalks like a skating rink.

As I headed home to face the hamster wheel instead of the open road, I found myself wishing I could somehow rid the skies of those ugly clouds and restore them to that beautiful azure blue of yesterday.

I was wishing for a sky duster.

This wish was a familiar one.

Growing up our family never went on vacation anywhere we couldn't stay with family or in a tent. The majority of the time we ended up in Oregon, staying with Uncle Albert and Aunt Annie. Their property complete with a garden full of raspberries, a large yard great for exploring, and a stream next to their home gave us plenty of entertainment, so we didn't know any different or really care. But all of those things were useless if it rained, which even in northeast Oregon it does...often...especially if we were on vacation.

This was the case one particular visit when I was 7. It rained and rained, so outdoor play was out of the question. Since I couldn't play, I took up cleaning. Annie had this great duster with a long wooden handle so you could reach ceiling corners and other high places. I think I had dusted every corner, pile, nook & cranny of Annie's home. And at Annie's that's saying something, she being a depression era survivor who saved everything... But still the rain seemed to never let up.

The duster

In the back bedroom, I laid on the old quilt topped bed complaining about the weather and with the duster in hand, mentioned to my mom how I wished I had a duster with a stick long enough to dust the clouds away.

A sky duster.

My mother, trying to provide a distraction and being the lover of poetry she is, helped me turn my wish into a poem.

So here is my 7 turned 33 year old's wish for today.

Sky Duster

I wish I had a duster with a stick to reach the sky,

I'd dust the grey out of the clouds as they went flying by.

I'd make them white and fluffy, like cotton candy too,

Then there wouldn't be rain clouds, to rain on me or you.

-Natalie Huff Parke & Jeanne Huff 1984

And you know, wishes about the weather don't always come true, but in spite of last night's lack of sleep, the pain in my head is gone, and even the hour on the hamster wheel felt great...So maybe today wasn't so cloudy after all.

Maybe, I'll leave the dusting for another day.