goodness

just outside the GF, ND art museum today

Ever just stop to breathe? Breathe in the smells of summer, the smell of damp grass in the morning, the scent of earth and flowers that have just been watered. And the sounds.

The sounds of laughter, of thunder, the wind, the birds both in the trees and in the grass searching for a fat snack. Even the naughty dog's barking down the street is turned into a happy noise as Emmy starts to bark back. I've been doing a lot of breathing things in this week. We've been spending a lot of time out of doors since I've been home and I've come to realize something.

I love North Dakota. I really love it.

I knew I'd like it. I knew I'd acclimate to a new life in a new state with new people and new cultures; but I didn't expect to thoroughly enjoy it this much. Simply put, things feel complete here.

Talking with Mark about all these appreciations has been fun; we both have a lot of things to say about living here - unexpected things too. One being the wind - something I thought I'd loathe. The wind here is different than it was in the Mojave Desert where I grew up. When there's wind here, it means something is coming.. not just dust to the eyes. Feeling the winds shift, bringing with it clouds from all different directions, excitement starts to build. Our energy increases as we wait for the clouds to crash into one another and for the sky to open up and the buckets of rain to fall.

The fields - the gorgeous lush fields of wheat, corn, flowers, and sugar beets. The tree belts that add variety to the landscape and give lots of nesting branches for many kinds of song birds.

There's a cycle to things here comparable to the cycle in seasons. People rely on the earth here, and the earth gives to the people who work with it. I have a lot to learn while I'm here, and it's all very exciting for me.

Life here is lovely.

Mont in his Wonderland