There is nothing more soothing than waking up on your own, no alarm clock and no husband telling you to get out of bed, beginning your day with willingness and having a storm roll in to drop water steady on the tin roof. This morning no one is here with me. It is just me and Mikey who is the best dog in the world. It was such a warm morning that I went out to brush my teeth outside. I know that is weird, but my husband doesn't like the dog in the house and so when I want to pet the dog, I go out on the front stoop. It just happened this time to coincide with me brushing my teeth.

Then I started to clean. I was just so willing to clean my house, that I didn't even notice that is what I was doing. I don't normally enjoy cleaning so much, but lately, I am finding that if I will listen to my insides of willingness, it is amazing what gets done. So this morning after my morning prayers and teeth brushing, I was willing to clean. I did dishes (which for those who don't know, we are a little farm house and a dishwasher would not match the place, so we hand wash all of our dishes around here: thus the necessity for willingness!). I even stripped the bed and threw in a load of laundry with the sheets. I now know why I don't have any socks. I look forward to having every pair I own in about an hour or so. Yesterday, I was not willing to do all that. It feels good to naturally do something instead of doing something while being unwilling. That resistance of not wanting to makes the task so painful.

As I was cleaning, a storm literally rolled in like you hear about in a Garth Brooks song. It was such a pleasant thing, not scary at all. You can see the cusp of the storm out my kitchen window and just beyond are the mountains. It was beautiful. I love the way the rain sounds on the tin roof. People try to record that sound, but I don't know that its possible. The only downside to the rain is that it brings mud to the spring where our water for the house is drawn. That means no more laundry because the water will be to muddy to wash with, but maybe that is not such a bad thing. It also means no drinking water for about a day or two until the mud cleans out. Thus the reason for bottled water.

I am slowly beginning to like living out here at the farm. There are still things that I want to do in order to get it into a home instead of a bachelor pad, but they will come in time.

I get to go be a maid of honor today. Meg has an appointment with my favorite florist, Gertie Mae's, for her wedding flowers. Meg and I were on the phone until two in the morning looking at bride's maid dresses on-line. She is so funny about her tastes. She and I totally don't agree in that area, so when I see something I don't like I would tell her about it and sure enough, she loves it. My understanding is that is the traditional way it should be. Bridesmaids never like the dresses. Meg wants us to have a dress that we would wear again, but there is nothing about taupe or peach that I would ever wear again. Oh well. It is a good thought. The really nice thing is that she finds the best deals on things so it will probably be the least amount I will ever pay for a dress of any kind not to mention for a bridesmaid dress. She is a thrifty thing. I am grateful to be of service to her. She is my best friend and it is not often that she'll let you love her.

I have also found an old friend again. I love that. My brother says that love has no time boundaries. This gal that I found loves me just like she did when we lived together. It's as though nothing changed. How wonderful to love and be loved.

That is kind of how I felt about the storm. It felt like I was being wrapped in a grey cloud of loving arms. It was calm and peaceful despite the thunder and lightening. I used to be afraid of lightening until I was taught how it worked. My Dad taught me how to count the lightening from the thunder to know how close it is on the screened in porch on the black iron swing at the Avondale house. Maybe that is why I like the storm is because I don't feel alone, rather have the warm loving memory from a time ago.