Drowning on Air
I grew up on a mountain overlooking the Thompson River in British Columbia. The wind used to race along the river valley as if it was late for a very important date. If I stood in the valley bottom and faced into the wind, it would snatch the breath away from me. I felt like I was drowning.
Sometimes, where I live now in the Canadian Prairies, the wind is so strong you have to lean into it. It feels like you are swimming against a strong current. If I face into it, I cannot breathe. It feels like drowning.
If the humidity is really high, the air can feel thick, wet, heavy. On days like this, wind would help. Wet, still air is difficult to drag into my lungs, and I feel like I’m trying to breathe water. It feels like drowning.
How strange it is that too much of the very thing you need to breathe can stop you breathing.
