The View From My Window

I’ve seen a lot out my window in the last year. The flowers bloomed and fell and bloomed again. The grass greened and browned and greened again. It rained and stopped and rained again. The smoke appeared, lingered, and went. Turkeys, deer, joggers, bicyclists, and the homeless passed by on the street. The turkeys gobbled, the deer were silent, and the people talked loudly.

I saw my reflection in the glass on St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, my birthday, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Soon I will see my reflection on Valentine’s Day.  

To my right, my neighbor who works in the trades leaves every weekday morning at 6:30 AM. To my left, my other neighbor takes his dog out early in the mornings in his gray pickup. His girlfriend drives a white SUV. She’s over most of the time. 

On Tuesday mornings, I see the landscapers blow out the leaves in my driveway. The leaf blower is noisy, and I can smell its gas fumes while I try to work. Wednesday is garbage day. The truck for tree clippings comes at 7 AM, the truck for regular garbage at 8 AM, and the truck for recycling at 2:30 PM. 

Every day the FedEx truck comes at 10 AM, and the UPS truck around 3 PM. I can never tell when the regular mail truck will drive by. Sometimes I see it on Sundays. 

I’ve also seen my car. It’s parked just outside. It’s been parked for most of the last year. I installed a dashcam on Christmas Day. The lens looks back at me when I open the blinds. I wonder if me moving around inside turns it on. What does it think of me shuffling about in here all the time? I figure it’ll have a few more months to wonder. 

Sometimes, like today, it’s nice in the mornings. The sunrise causes the wooden fence to the left to take on a soft glow. In a few minutes, the frost that settled on my car overnight will start to steam away. 

It will be beautiful.