Shelter From The Storm

"Everybody needs a safe place."

-- Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

Shelter 1-25-14

"Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh, yeah, I'm gonna fade away."

-- The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"

As I sit here safe and sound in my cozy home sipping a hot cup of fresh-brewed cinnamon Starbucks coffee, it's easy to forget that there's a winter storm raging just outside my window. But every now and then the howl of a fierce, frigid wind reminds me that the weather outside is very, very frightful.

It is fascinating to watch the wind. (Yes, Christina Georgina Rossetti, I can see it.) I can actually see the drifts forming as the wind swirls and loops and whorls snow across open the spaces, then bucks and changes direction just before crashing against any solid thing standing in its way. 

It's elegant and graceful, in a way -- like a dance -- beautiful from the vantage point of my sturdy, warm, solid house, underscored by the accompaniment of the furnace's steady, comforting hum.

It may sound trite or obvious to say that shelter is a good thing. Most of the time, it's one of the good things that I guess I take for granted. 

Rather than complain about being antsy, or bored, or house-bound, today I am grateful that I have a house to be bound and bored and antsy in. I don't have to tell you that not everybody is so lucky. 

If you are safe and warm today, and if you have the means, think about donating blankets or coats or food or time or money to your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.  Don't know of one? There's a really good one in my area called Victory Kitchen that accepts monetary donations online. Click on the link and you can help someone without even leaving the comfort of your safe, warm home.

And today, that's definitely a good thing.

Be safe and take care.