Reading between the lines

I once read there was a man who spent 60 years documenting nothing but the weather. His son often watched him record the weather in a notebook at the end of each day. And he never missed a day.

The son still has a vivid mental image of his father as he filled one notebook after another, year after year, until there were too many to count. These notebooks were found in neat-like heaps in more than one room of the house after his death.

After the man's death, his son felt honored to read the notebooks for the first time. He captured a new understanding of the man he thought he knew, but didn't at all. He would be forever impressed by his dad's achievements and the character drawn in pen and ink from mere weather records. More than this, his methodical words drew a striking picture of not just his life, but the world as it rotates and how weather does give a history of profound accuracy on how man fits into it all.

It became clear to the son how his father lived, what he thought and what concerns were his those 60 years, though he reported only daily changes of his environment.

If you think about it, everything develops or is determined by the weather. It directs our energy, ambition, creativity, attitude, inspiration, thoughts and dreams.

It's the changing weather that has me settling into solitude, as I do every time the winter months approach.

It's easy to understand how the rain plays like a director. We wait for the sun to rise from behind the trees to take the next walk out on this stage we call life. There is a young gerontologist who believes old people who spend one hour a day in the sun will sleep more restfully all night long. She is presently researching this. For that reason, breakfast is eaten in the sunroom during the warmer season.

It is in the early morning of summer that I enjoy our garden twice as much if the sun comes up. The walks I take between the rows of plants as I measure the development of not only the weeds, but also a flower or two here and there, is detailed by weather. The sun's energy takes everything into healthy, wonderful color.

Much like seasons that come and go, free hours evaporate faster than drops of water spattered in the frying pan. Life like the sun that goes down in the west, the moon rising above the trees is directed by weather, too. I can be distracted by something as little as the bird feeders swaying in the wind. The peaceful evening spreads its wings into the face of another changing season knowing energy will be less until spring unfolds.

And days later, the weather can often alter the best of us. And these daily changes and how each are accepted may signify much about our lives, as well.

This story was produced by Happynews Citizen Journalist, Annette P. King.

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