Wind...

 Not “wind” as in you “wind a clock” but ‘wind’ as in the wind that blows through your hair. Wind that also creates those amazing dust storms or dust devils in the summer.  Wind that can blow snow around and make some of the most amazing formations known as “snow cornices” on the summit of a mountain or snowdrifts to those in the valley.  Wind is also the element that allows a plane to fly and get off of the ground more easily or to land more gently.  Wind can also create some amazing sounds at times when it brushes up against something and pushes it to and fro…like wind in the trees or wind chimes.  ... Funny how a simple element such as wind can bring back such amazing memories.

One of my most special memories of my Mother as a young boy and wind goes “way back”.  I was about 7 or 8 years old at the time and so that takes us back to the late 70ties. 

See March, was a special month for me…First off, it was kite season. Secondly it was my birthday month.  Who can argue with that especially being a young boy?  Mom would always make our birthdays so special with the perfectly, and I mean PERFECTLY, wrapped gifts topped with her handmade bows.  She would also make our birthday cakes adorned and titled with a sweet little message or item on top.  …The message or item?  … Whatever our passion, obsession or liking was at the time.  For Angie it would have been Davy Jones. For Lor it would have been Johnny Cash or softball. For Gina it would have been something to do with dance and ballet. 

…You get the idea. 

But for me it was animals or generally something to do with flight.  I believe her love of flying, even though she was deathly afraid of heights, rubbed off on her son.   That’s why I am sure to this very day this is why I still love to fly kites, love watching birds fly and also became a pilot.

So for this particular birthday, I remember her making me a birthday cake that had a young boy flying his kite on it.  Each and every year in March, and another reason why I always loved March as a boy, I would be able to go with my Mom with the money I had saved from doing chores around the house or had been given that year as a gift for my birthday down to the local toy/hardware/everything store known as “KINGS” and buy a kite!  The kites, as well as all of the toys, were located in the downstairs portion of the store.

So with Mom holding my hand as we descended the stairs and that very familiar scent of that store filling my lungs, I will never forget how patient and kind she was even with a young son who wanted EVERY kite in the store. Finally, with lots of convincing and suggestions from my Mom, I would end up with the “perfect kite” each year. 

“What’s next,” you ask???  Well to FLY my kite of course!!!

Mom and Dad had built a beautiful home up on the hills of eastern Idaho with lots of wide-open spaces.  It was a perfect place to fly a kite on the gentle breezes of spring and look up into the blue skies and the heavens above and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin as I flew my kite. 

One day, not long after my birthday, my Mom had to run to the grocery store.  She came out and said to me, “I’ll be back soon” and “stay out of trouble.”

I think she knew I would stay “out of” trouble because I was already outside flying that same kite she had helped me purchase for my birthday just a couple of days before.  I could spend HOURS at times entertaining myself just by this aforementioned activity. 

The funniest part of this story; however, is HOW I ended up flying that kite by the time she got back home. This would be the story that always made my Mom laugh and would be a story she shared several times in the years to come.  ... Becoming tired while flying my kite and what seemed to be a “LONG TIME” in kid years while waiting for my Mom to return home, I felt it was best to just tie my kite to the lounge chair I decided to sit on and watch my kite fly in the heavens above.  …. can’t tell you what was going through my head at the time while flying my kite as a young boy but I’m sure it was one of content, being cared for and being loved. 

Mom, upon her return from the grocery store, would generally honk her horn to let us know she needed some help bringing in the MANY bags of groceries she had purchased for her 7 kids at the time and her husband.  

As the story goes, she said she noticed immediately when her oldest son didn’t come to help her bring in the groceries.  Because she said, “I was always there to help her.”   She then described in her own words that she became “nervous” and “afraid” that something might have happened to me.  So as she franticly scoured her home looking for her son, she finally looked outside to the place where she last saw me before she left that day. … She saw her little boy fast asleep on the lounge chair while the kite, still being attached to the armrest of that chair, was still floating and gently swaying back and forth in the warm breezes of the spring air. 

The last part of the story is when I finally woke up to realize that my Mom was sitting there next to me gently holding my hand and was just watching her “little blue-eyed boy” sleep wondering what cloud he was dreaming about or playing on, what kite he was flying in his mind or what his next adventure may be. 

It’s funny how as I have aged and become a man, that I have never needed my Mom any less than when I was this young boy. Actually I think I need her more now than ever.  I am, and will always be, her little boy and still need her to hold my hand and give me that warm loving comfort, that only Moms know how to do.  

I must say that all of these wonderful memories that are such a treasure to me and have made me laugh, made me cry and have brought me closer to my Mother are because of one thing. ...WIND.

I LOVE YOU MOM!!!  Your “Jimbay”