Did you ever had a day when every little thing seemed to irritate you?  I mean to the point that even your underwear didn't feel right?  So you fret and you squirm and you just can't be comfortable? 

Then you go home to lunch and discover that you're wearing your underwear backward?

Does this happen to ANYONE else out there?

o_0

If It's April

Somewhere west of Hays, Kansas dusky gray blurred and softened the features of landmarks along the horizon ahead of us.  I glanced in the rearview mirror with a the same sense of quiet happiness that used to spur me to watch my babies while they were sleeping.  Not only did that glance reveal the boys engaged with their music and games, it also showed that the gray blur was behind us as well. 

I started looking around and realized that wind and dust surrounded us creating a bubble with my car at the moveable center.  The gusts buffeted and jerked us around.  I  gripped the steering wheel and set my face to find our way through.  The further west we came, the harder it was to keep the car straight against the force of the wind and the harder it was to see down the road.  By the time we reached Colby, visibility was down to about ten car lengths.

The strain of pushing against the wind showed on the fuel gauge which dropped much quicker than it did last night.  I pulled in for a travel stop and stepped out into a maelstrom that slammed my door and whipped the sound of the words I called out away across the plains before the kids could hear them.  I've never had my throat scoured by sand and my eyes filled with grit quite so quickly or thoroughly. 

I pushed the hair back and looked up, blinking.  Straight above me as though I were standing in a needle of clarity, the sky was clear and blue, but all around that dusky blur obscured our surroundings.  Surreal.  Loud.  Hard.

When I got back in the car, the boys laughed, "Your hair looks wild, Mom!"

I started the engine and we began to roll again.