Down the Rabbit Hole

The Sounds of....Silence?

30 Day Blogging Challenger
PROMPT November 8th
Besides music, what are some of your favorite sounds?

Aside from music, there are some sounds that I associate with happiness. As much as music soothes my soul, the sound of my daughter's sleep laughter brings me to a place of well-being and peace that little else does. Even at 9, she still manages to wander into our bed at some point in the wee hours of morning. I still wake up with her little body curled around mine or find her lying in the bend of her father's arm when the alarm goes off. On the rarest occasions, I've been awaken by her having a dream in which she is laughing about something. The giggles bubble up from her in the dimness and I watch her delicate mouth curl up in that secret dream smile that makes my heart nearly burst with a tender kind of joy. There is something so unguarded and pure about the sound, it goes straight to my mother's heart.

I love the sound Roo makes when we come to visit him. He usually hears our car these days. He is already softly nickering for us before we even get to his paddock. His nicker is a soft, fluttering sound that seems to start in his wide barrelled-belly. Sometimes when he is really feeling affectionate, he will put his big head on my shoulder and nicker into my ear and the gentle sound is accompanied by the sweet smell of his grass-soaked breathe. It is a sound that brings me a special kind of peace.

I love the sound of the Spring birds, especially after a tough, snow bound New England winter. When you hear that little tinkling of bird calls in the early morning, you can dream of a coming thaw. You can picture a green bounty of life waiting just under the snow and it makes you feel as hopeful as the warm sun on your back.

Oddly enough, one of my favorite sounds of all is the absence of sound that accompanies a blanket of freshly fallen snow. I love opening the door to a world that has been covered with a thick layer of overnight snow to find the world has gone silent. The lawn and the trees are shrouded with white, unmarred by footprints and the air is thin and almost brittle like glass. There is a quietness that accompanies that particular landscape that brings me a deep serenity for some reason. Before long the silence will be broken by distant plows and the dogs will tear ribbons through the pristine blanket of snow but for a few moments it will be absolutely and perfectly silent.