Memory Trigger

I wish I could write this into a poem. I tried, and it just didn't work. So, here is my attempt to explain what happened to me today.

Today was hot and humid. It was rather miserable in our house. Quincie and I were home most of the day. We kept talking about going to the pool, or the beach, but it didn't happen. I was working on laundry in between phone calls and computer work. I was hot, sweaty, and exhausted. It was too hot to eat, so I was feeling weak and tired on top of it all. Pretty much like a wilted flower, picked and left out on the sidewalk to die.

I turned on the window A/C in Ryker's room while I was sorting his laundry. As I leaned over to take the sheets off his bed the air from the A/C blew sweaty strands of hair across my face. Like magic, I was transported to a memory.

I was about 12 years old, and at my Grandma Edlyn's house. She was living on a large farm in Iowa. I was spending a couple of weeks at her house with my brother Rik and my cousin and best friend, Bobbi Jo. We liked to go visit grandma as a group. We had so much fun together. That summer was probably the best ever.

The memory that came rushing into the cells of my body was of a summer day on that farm. We had been in the field picking corn all day. It was hot and humid. We were dirty and tired. Exhausted from the heat and the work. I came into the house to do something and passed by a window A/C. The soothing cold air blew sweaty strands of hair across my face. I stood there with my eyes closed feeling complete pleasure as the freezing air dried my sweaty face.

That moment today mirrored the physical sensations of that day so long ago - the sound and smell of a window A/C, the feeling of air blowing on my face, the heat and exhaustion of the day.

I stood there for a long moment, enjoying the shear pleasure of the cool air and the memory of a summer day as a carefree child.