coming up for air

Spending time online can leave me feeling disembodied. So can long days spent studying, writing or editing.

I feel hazy, disconnected, like when I've been swimming and there's water in my ears and my eyes are a little unfocussed and the world looks blurry blue.

I'm grateful for the things that ground me. For a child curling into the crook of my arm while I read a picture book. For wind tangling my hair when I walk out the door. For a husband who wants my company that evening. For a floor that needs vigorous vacuuming. For a coffee-shop conversation that lets me into a friend's life and thoughts.

I catch myself breathing in the smell of my son's hair or running my fingers along the bark of a tree or staring into the distance just to remind myself that it's real, and oh, so much bigger than the confines of my mind.

How grateful I am to God for this very solid world.