Flying Kites

I.  Hate.  The.  Wind.  I enjoy a breeze while sitting on the porch on a hot summer afternoon.  There is a HUGE difference between a gentle, soothing breeze as opposed to the 30mph gusts we have been experiencing lately.


My only good memory of wind is flying kites.  Mama would take us to Gibson's (located across from the Texan Theater) and let us pick out kites.  Marshall was drawn to the ones with eyes and teeth.  I preferred the ones with bright colors.  There was never enough string on the roll that came with the packaged kite.  With that in mind, Mama would buy us more rolls of string.  We would prepare our endless amount feet of string rolls and be ready for  the WIND! 


We had a field in front of the house that was perfect for flying kites.  No trees, no electrical lines and unlimited space all around us.  With great anticipation, we would unfurl our kites, toss them in the air and run like heck to launch the kites.  Our kites would encounter a couple of nose dives before we got the hang of things.  I forgot to mention competition.  Of course we had to see who could get their kite the highest in the sky.  We would very meticulously let out more string and watch the kites become mere dots in the sky.  Our kites were soaring like buzzards!!


And then it happened.  The string on my kite broke and my kite sailed away.  I could only encourage Marshall to continue to fly his kite while I pouted about the loss of my kite.  Snap!  The string broke on Marshall's kite and it, too, sailed away.  Well, that wouldn't do!  We jumped on our bikes for a kite search-and-rescue effort.  For all we knew, the kites were halfway to the next county but we had to look for them.  By the time we got to the river, we had lost interest in the kites and skipped rocks (another competition) until our arms were sore.


Now-a-days, I cuss the wind when I'm driving. I cuss the wind when it blows so hard that the hummingbird feeders sway and sugar water goes all over the place.  I cuss the wind when I'm trying to contain my mail from the post office to the vehicle.  I cuss the wind simply because I. HATE. THE. WIND.  Maybe I should fly a kite just to make peace with the wind.  Nah.  I'll just stay indoors and cuss the wind.  :)