244. I Love The Wind

Sometimes the most okay, beautiful moments come when we spend time in nature. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

I’m Nora McInerny, and It’s Going To Be Okay. 

Today’s okay thing comes from Natalie McGill, who sent us this email: 

Today, my school had our monthly two class periods of time outside for students. Some kids played soccer, others walked the trail around the soccer field, some girls played keep it up with a volleyball in one giant circle, and different teachers found their teacher friends and chatted while supervising us. But I grabbed my sweatshirt and water, and walked up the grassy hill. I proceeded to walk in a circle a few times before sitting down in the grass. From my perch I could see everyone and everything. Since I was on the top of the hill, I could feel all the wind. I love the wind. So I spent the first hour of my free time just sitting at the top of the hill feeling the wind. Just closing my eyes and feeling the wind. Letting it wash over me. It was a perfect spring day. Beautiful weather. Perfect amount of sun, not too cold. Windy, but nice. So I sat there, soaking it all up. My teachers and friends saw me, but didn’t come over. I have a habit of zoning out and staring at random objects while getting lost in my own rabbit holes inside my own head. So me sitting and starting off into space wasn’t anything abnormal for them. Then, about an hour in. One of my teachers, Mr Logan walks over to me. Mr Logan is everyone’s favorite, and is very well liked. He’s the cool teacher. He walks over to me, and asks me what I’m doing, in a gentle tone. I blurt out “I like the wind”. He asks if he could join me, and I explain “Of course! I’m not here because I necessarily want to be alone, but my friends are loud, and I like the wind”. So Mr Logan sits down in the grass next to me and we chatted about some of the most random things. But I loved it. We had meaningful conversations even though we hardly knew each other. He sat with me for the next hour. It felt so nice to know that someone notices you, and wants to be in your presence. I felt noticed. And that’s how I know it’s going to be okay. Because if things like the wind, Mr Logan, and grassy Missouri hills exist, then I know it’s going to be okay.