Can You Feel It?

 

There is an Appalachian word that been on my mind all day – Airish. You might hear one of the locals say, “Hit’s kinda airish today.”

What they mean is the air feels lighter, not as much humidity or heaviness to it. They say it in the early evening after a thunderstorm has moved through. Or during the early morning before the sun crawls upward. It’s like God scrubbed the earth clean and blew softly across it.

There’s been an airishness to this day since I woke.

Not that the day has gone smoothly mind you. I ran a quick errand this morning only to pull my jeep in the garage and discover the garage door had gone catawampus on me. We’ve only been in the house 3 years and it’s a new home. We’ve never had any problem with the garage door before. I didn’t have any problem with it when I left the house. It was only upon my return.

My son-in-law came out to take a look at it and reached the conclusion that I needed more expert help than he could provide. Fortunately I could get the jeep out of the garage; I just can’t shut the garage door. Not a huge problem in the daytime but it will be tonight for sure. So I began calling around to the garage professionals. The first one I called told me they are so busy they are no longer even taking service calls.

The odd thing is Tim and I had been talking this very weekend about replacing the garage door, not for function but for aesthetics. It’s almost like our garage door overheard us talking and felt betrayed so it up and quit us. You don’t suppose, do you?

Anyway, I put in several more phone calls to several more folks about the broken garage door. One called back and is sending someone out later today. But then another called back and I had to tell her that I was sorry but we had already scheduled somebody.

She replied in a heavy Southern accent that it was okay.

Then, y’all know me, I just had to ask: Where are you from?

Turns out she’s from Alabama. Homewood. Jacksonville. Her kids – she has 4 of them – are all Auburn grads. She went to Auburn, too.

Don’t you know we had a regular old gabfest right then and there? I learned more about her in ten minutes of talking than I have the neighbors I’ve lived next to for 3 years, ’cause, you know, that Southern thing.

She’s got a book deal to write about – y’all aren’t going to believe this – about her life in a cult. I am not kidding.

And guess what her name is?

Just go ahead guess.

If you said Karen, you’d be right.

She said she shares all the Karen hate memes because “You just gotta lean into it.”

How you feeling about tomorrow? I asked, a bit hesitant, because it’s Alabama, y’all.

“I cannot wait!” she replied gleefully.

Now if that garage door going all hinky-kinky on me today ain’t God’s poetry, I don’t know what else it is.

We Karens are going to mask up and meet soon.

With less than 24 hours to go before Joe Biden takes over as president, everything in the world is feeling more airish to me already.

Tomorrow I will hang out a brand new American flag. I haven’t flown one since 2016, and if you know anything about me, you understand why I couldn’t.

My champagne is chilling. How about yours?

Karen Spears Zacharias is author of Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide? ‘Cause I need more room for my plasma TV (Zondervan).

 

Karen Spears Zacharias

Author/Journalist/Educator. Gold Star Daughter.

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