Napping in the Sun

Charlie found an orange ball during our morning hike today and she's been obsessing over it all day.

It's not a *new* ball, but it's new to her. However, it is extremely dirty. Which is probably why she loves it so much... it's got "flavor."

Under all this dirt lies an orange tennis ball.

After being cooped up in a stuffy office all week, I long to be in the outdoors as much as possible on the weekends. Today, however was extremely windy, and I hate wind. 

On windy days I always try to remember the quote, "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair", but I really hate wind.

Instead of fighting the elements, I decided to hunker down in the backyard for the afternoon. I bundled up and lounged on a lawn chair while soaking up sun and avoiding most of the wind gusts.

I brought a book out with me, but Charlie was persistently placing her orange ball in my lap to throw for her, so I quickly gave up on reading.

Instead of staring at the dilapidated garage in front of me, I reclined the lawn chair until I was positioned to view only the blue sky above. I kicked off my shoes and let the sun warm my purple wool socks.

White clouds scuttled across the sun, dousing me in coolness until the sun returned to warm me up again. Like a child on a lazy day, I imagined "cloud animals" in the shapes of the cottony puffs above.

Before I knew it, I had drifted into a light sleep. But after a few minutes I felt Charlie setting her ball on various parts of my body trying to get me to play fetch again. Her persistence paid off. 

I remember my dad telling me about the time that he fell asleep in a field and woke up with spider webs all over him. He loved the outdoors and napping outside was one of his guilty pleasures. 

Napping in the sun today made me feel like he was with me and it was a sweet moment.