The Wide-Open Sky and a Pounding Heart

My dog Diesel grabs the leash behind the kitchen door before I can, and it trails behind him in the wind as he flies out through the front door while I check for keys in my pocket and hurriedly put my MP3 music into my ears.

The morning breeze tickles my nose, and I sneeze as I catch up with him. By the time our legs hit the end of the dirt road, we have exercised ourselves warm and we exhale bigger and bigger clouds into the crisp air. The long dirt road is completely deserted the empty corn, and bean fields lay open and beautiful in their rolling hills and my skin pulls over my face tight and rosy cheeked and almost hurts from smiling.

As we come back from our two-mile walk, I cross over onto my damp green lawn I take off my shoes and socks and roll up denim pants to reach my knees. The sky is wide open, the clouds angry and wild as we run together along the green grass. And I can hear him breathing, in and out, adrift and his heart is pounding as free and screaming as my own.