Open windows

The best times of year in Houston – for me anyway – have always been those hours, days, maybe weeks when I can open all the windows and let a cool breeze in.

This doesn’t happen a lot nor for very long. But when it does…

I feel more like part of the community, sleeping with the windows open at night. I can hear planes, dogs, accidents. I hear the people outside. They are walking down my street and they are arguing, making plans, or trying to find their cars again.

I miss out on this real life with my windows shut and the air conditioning blasting.

This morning, I pushed aside the curtains and pulled up the blinds so I might open the windows of my bedroom. There across the way from me was a neighbor I had never seen before, at her window, doing the same.

She was a pretty girl with blue hair and some tattoos on her arms which I could not read at that distance.

She waved to me.

I smiled and I waved back.

Isn’t that wonderful?

(Allahu Akbar…)