Kite

Today was my day off, and I had plans to mow the lawn.  The lawnmower, however, had other plans and refused to start.  Those who know me well know that I have a love/hate relationship with machines that are used to cut grass. They will not be surprised by the reluctance of the mower to allow my use of it.

Since I could not mow, I decided to fly a kite. I love flying kites, and have quite a collection of them.  I had a brand-new one that had never been out of the package and I saw when I hung the sheets on the line to dry this afternoon (yes, I did do something productive today!) that there was a nice breeze.  While living on the prairie for all those years I never had to worry much about finding a good kite-flying breeze, but here in the woods and marsh it's a different story.  The trees break up the wind and cause turbulence and it's not so easy to find a good, strong, steady breeze to lift my little sail and make it fly.

A kite needs three things to fly:

1. A sail (the kite)
2. A tether (the line and the person holding it)
3. A breeze

If any one of those things is missing, the kite will cease flying and fall to the ground.  When attempting to fly the kite, the flyer needs to be aware of the wind lifting the hair on the back of her neck, and she must be able to judge the direction of the wind to know in which direction to face her sail.  She needs to give her kite just enough line to let it rise, and she needs to know when to pull it in and let it out, and when to give it up and wait for another flying day.

I had trouble finding a good steady breeze this afternoon.  The kite seemed to want most to fly near kite-eating trees and threatening power lines.  The wind frequently switched directions and sometimes failed altogether.  I was able to get my sail aloft a few times, and even got some altitude once or twice, but was mainly unsuccessful.  The wind failed. The kite had nothing to hold it up. I had the sail.  I had the tether. I could not find the breeze.  I wound up my line and came indoors. 

I lost a good part of my breeze early this past Sunday morning, when my sister finally lost her fight against cancer.  She had always been there for me since my birth, indeed we were eggs born together at the creation of our mother.  She lifted me up when I was faltering, held me aloft while I searched for my own breeze, and showed me how to fly steady and true, and to stay away from trees and power lines.  She taught me when it was time to reel in my line and call it a day.  She never judged me, always loved me, and never, ever stopped believing in me. 

My wind is faltering these days, much as the wind faltered beneath the sail of my kite.  I know steady breezes will come once again and I will fly in honor and remembrance of a wonderful woman...a perfect sister...but I will always miss her.