Roll Down the Window… of Life

Window-Sunglasses - Post Image - Mina's Letters

At the beginning of July the air conditioner in the car I drive most decided to stop working.  Maybe it quit, maybe it needed a break, or maybe I needed to learn something in the process, but either way no cool air escaped the vents in the car.  Fixing the problem wasn’t an immediate option.  So we rolled down the windows and cooled off the old fashioned way.

Rolling down the window had several implications.  Air is powerful.  It is strong, carries lots, and has a personality all its own.  Some days the air was gentle and kind and other days it ripped through the car like a tsunami.

Outside air only cools you so much.  When the air outside is only a few degrees cooler than the air in the car, you only get slightly cooler.

When the windows are down you can smell smells and hear sounds.  I had forgotten the smell of fresh cut grass in the summer.  Or the way dogs all bark and announce things to others in the neighborhood.  Windows down was a walk down memory lane and my simple childhood summers.  What a gift.

Hair gets in your eyes.  Now what is really interesting about this little factoid is that this has a direct relationship to life.  You see when hair is blowing around your eyes, things come in and out of view.  Just like life.  Some times we see things clearly and other times we have to brush things out of the way to see.  Those things blocking our vision could be our frustration, love, anger, or confusion.  Only when we are aware that the window is down can we remember to push the hair out of the way and see clearly.  The temptation is to keep the window up all the time to “see clearly.”

However, with the window down, we are truly in touch with the world.   Suddenly we are not just seeing things through glass and watching it like a movie on TV.

The air conditioner is now fixed for which I am grateful as we head into the worst of the heat.  But this was a fantastic reminder to be real, roll down the window, and stay in touch.