GNTL - Walk, Mounds, Spirit

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

5/17/2023 

The local TV weather folks talked about ‘a pneumonia front’ for two days. I’d never heard the term before but we all know temps can change fast, right? It’s more generally called life on planet earth. Keep a jacket handy if you can.

Yesterday I went for a walk with a hoodie tied around my waist, JIC. I was one block from Discount Liquors (yes, walking for wine is part of my exercise routine) when the wind shifted. Suddenly the weather turned over and I was inside a lovely sensation of cool pillowcases swirling around hot and sweaty me.

I bought some wine, put on my jacket, and started back home.

I was not thinking about much as I cut through the lawn around the library. There are two Indian mounds there which remind me that Wisconsin was once the home of Pottawatomie and their predecessors.

“More mounds were built by ancient Native Americans in Wisconsin than in any other region of North America—between 15,000 and 20,000, at least 4,000 of which remain today. Most impressive are the effigy mounds, huge earthworks sculpted in the shapes of thunderbirds, water panthers, and other forms, not found anywhere else in the world in such concentrations.” https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5559.htm

I saw a homeless woman right up against the biggest mound. She was sound asleep with a pillow under her head and coats and maybe a blanket tucked around her. She looked peaceful.

I don’t have words for how beautiful and sad that moment was. This woman was tucked in against the pneumonia front. She had chosen for safety to sleep between a library and ancient ones.

The human spirit endures so much.

I kept on walking and came home and had a glass of wine and talked with Len. That’s what I noticed yesterday.