Shokufeh is... home

Windy day

Last night and today have been super-windy. Despite the things that get knocked over as it whips through our apartment, wind is one of the forces of nature I adore. I love the extra emphasis in putting one foot in front of the other, the exhilaration of being knocked about by something I can't see.

Inevitably, walking in wind calls up a memory from when I lived in New York. I was walking to the dorm, after a midnight soccer practice at the gym. The streets were quiet and empty, save for a fresh snowfall, and a university employee in front of the library, doing his best to counter the snowfall. As I was passing the library, the wind picked up, making me feel as if I were going to be picked up. To this day, I still think if I hadn't held on to a nearby garbage can or street post (some piece of metal, the shape of which is hazy in my mind), I would have become airborne. That feeling of powerlessness, the expectation of being swept away, was so sweet.