I like wind chimes.

I have a set hanging on the still side of the wraparound porch. I put them there so that they would not constantly be chiming, as that section of the porch is next to a magnolia tree, and facing the neighbors porch.

They have a pleasant set of tones. They have the same opening notes as “Amazing Grace” – but they gently sway and sound out in a random, differing pattern of notes.

Most of the time, the wind chimes are perfectly still. I live in the South, a land of humidity and stillness.

Until it isn’t.

A cold front is moving through tonight. “Blustery”, the local weather anchors proclaim, as the temperature drops from 76° to 38° in less than 12 hours.

First came the rain, pushed by the blustering winds that usher in the cold. It’s our version of winter – long weeks of mild temperatures, interrupted occasionally by what would pass as fall winter in most of the rest of the country.

For me, my wind chimes signal change.

When they began to sway, pipes touching melodiously, I know that change is coming. A cold front. A rainstorm. Even more violent tropical occurrences throughout summer and fall.

It’s change. The chaotic, volatile, random sound of change.

This new year, I hear the chimes of change. I feel the restlessness inside me, and the storms that are on my radar are not what stir the winds.

Rather, I see my life going down a new path. More rest? Maybe. Back to college? Perhaps. Finally writing my novel?

Inevitable.

My emotions are as unsettled as the random notes in the night. My mind, though, is still.

Change is coming, indeed.

Time will tell where it takes me.