The wind is blowing tonight, a cold north wind.
My Mother used to chant in a low, whispered voice…”A
cold north wind doth blow and soon we shall have snow.” It was always
an ominous, threatening forecast of an Idaho snowstorm. Two little girls
scrambled to our beds and shivered under the quilts that we had pulled up
to our noses to wait wide-eyed and fearful for a resolution or for a calamity! Oh how the wind would howl and batter
our little house mercilessly on and on and on into the long night. Even
the promise of awakening to a snowy wonderland couldn’t assuage my
fear.
And so it was for me long after the little girl grew to
be a young woman, a mother, and now a grandmother. The cold north wind
moans outside my window tonight and then wails as if in pain and I am
afraid. Dale never laughed at my childish fear but always took me in
his arms and held me until the fright passed and the wind calmed. But I’m
alone tonight. I miss him and I start to sing a song that calls to
him at such a time as this when I am afraid or when I am feeling unsure of
myself. It goes:
Sometimes my doubt seems as wide as
the ocean
And I can’t stay afloat
My feet want to move another step
forward
But I can’t see the road ahead of
me
And I need you to….
Tell me I am strong
Tell me I am gonna make it
Tell me that you’ll stay by my side
Tell me that my faith is bigger
than my fear and then
Tell me again, tell me again, oh
tell me again
I’m not thinking about giving up or
quitting, no
I’m gonna keep pushing on
But there are moments when it feels
like I’m slipping
I don’t want to let go, I don’t
want to let go
And I need you to….
Tell me I am strong
Tell me I am gonna make it
Tell me that you’ll stay by my side
Tell me that my faith is bigger
than my fear and then
Tell me again, tell me again, oh
tell me again.
Tell me I am brave
Tell me I am strong
Tell me I can make it
Tell me I am loved
-Taken from the Song “Tell Me’ by
Hillary Weeks
I cry as I type, pleading for Dale to comfort me now. And
then an amazing thing happens. My iPhone blings that a text has come in.
I glance down and see it’s from my dear son Eric who lives with his sweet
family more than 2500 miles away. The text simply reads…
I suddenly have the Beach Boys
“Don’t Worry Baby” song in my head so I’m guessing Dad
wants you to listen to that tonight
And now I can hear that song playing clearly in my
head: “Don't worry baby, Everything
will turn out alright”........and......…I’m ok. The storm inside me is calm again. I’ll make it through
another night. Thank
you Dale.
