Contentment

It’s raining again today. It seems like weeks go by without sunshine. This year has been the third wettest for central Virginia since record-keeping began. Forecasters say this year is on track to become the second wettest year on record.

My backyard, where I drive into my garage, is now essentially mud. Ruts run through it. When spring comes, I’ll have to fix that, but I’m not sure how. Replace the missing soil with soil and grass seed? Replace the missing soil with rocks? Extend the garage apron by pouring concrete? Or just leave it alone? It is, after all, at the far end of my backyard.

So, today is gray and wet and tonight we’re supposed to get another 1.5 inches of rain. The temperature is warmer than in recent days—all the way up to 46°F. I could call this day dismal, and many would agree. But I’m in my  house. I’m warmed by an oil-fired boiler. I’m further warmed by an electric heater on the floor beside my chair. The heater blows warm air on my legs and it feels soothing and comforting.

When I was a boy delivering the morning newspaper, I would often stop at my grandmother’s house on the way home and she would prepare a tall stack of pancakes for me. While she was preparing them, I would pull up a chair to the edge of the floor furnace and bask in the stream of warm air that it blew over me. The sensation would almost put me to sleep.

Decades later, on a cold winter night I would fill the fireplace insert with firewood, close the doors, adjust the air intakes to keep the combustion low, and go to bed. If I awakened in the dark hours of the new day, I would go to the darkened living room and sit in front of the fireplace with my back to the fireplace insert. The gentle stream of warm air blowing from the insert was pure contentment.

I’ve wondered occasionally if other people find the flow of warm air blowing over their bodies as comforting as I do. Certainly, I would not think people who live where winters are warm would be able to appreciate it. To those people I say, “You don’t know what you’ve missed.”