The sun has only just come up but there is a silence in the air.  There’s no train going by, no sprinklers going on and off, no lawn mowers being started, even the birds seem to have taken the day off.  The breeze coming in through the screened window is cool and I know that autumn is just a breath away.

I wake to turn on the teakettle and sit at the kitchen table to listen to the silence.  I am in the forest in the mountains.  I once had neighbors here, but for some, their children have grown up and they have moved on, and for others, they have grown too old to make the journey.  So there is a blanket of silence that covers the many acres that surround me.  The dirt roads are quiet, the streams are low from late season drought and no longer meander, so even the frogs have disappeared.

I sit to enjoy an apple cinnamon donut with my steeped tea.  I am enjoying the peace.  I can feel myself being recharged and getting excited about the day ahead.  Simple thoughts of walks in the woods.  Spending one more treasured day with my best friend.  Missing our children who have also grown up along with the rest and moved on.  But he and I remain. Tomorrow will come soon enough.  But for today, the world is still.  I breath in the mountain air, turn on my computer to write my stories, and know how lucky I am.

http://www.theresadodaro.com   Author of The Tin Box Trilogy