Rain Has Come

Rain is pouring outside. Water colliding with earth. The sound is soothing and melodious to me. I have missed it. We have had a summer of drought but I far prefer that to constant rain and grey. My children have spent hours in the sunshine of our back yard and I have spent hours inside keeping cool with my air conditioner. Last summer we had fires in our yard all summer in a little fire pit. We had just moved off the farm and the concept of town life just hadn't clicked in I guess. Well at the beginning of spring this year we had a fire to burn some cardboard. One of our neighbors called the fire department and all dreams of another dreamy summer disappeared when the Fire Marshal issued us a warning. Considering the weather and fire bans this summer brought I think that was a very good thing. The rain has come now though. Wild fires that have been burning out of control will die down. The earth can drink and drink and drink. Cities who are in stage three of water restrictions can relax. It's been a bit of a long day here at home today in this rain. Some big things happened and all the little things. We had an almost power outage which sent my sister and I into a tizzy of preparation. It was a good kick in the pants. The laundry got washed, the carpet finally got vacuumed and cookies were made. The wind blew hard but in our area we kept our power. Many were not so fortunate. Children got wet outside in the rain. My sister and I did a massive grocery shop. Children watched movies, danced wildly, cleaned rooms, and fought. The baby is into climbing on the coffee table and trying to jump while up there. He is also into sweeping the floor. He is oh so helpful. He loves to turn the washer off in mid cycle and he obsesses about getting outside. Each day goes by and through it all I grasp moments out of the air that are precious and beautiful. My heart beats hard with the realization that it is going by so quickly. My oldest is almost as tall as me and wasn't it just yesterday she was coming to live with us and her favorite song was Baby Beluga? How do I make time slow, pause; and how do I savor the moments that are golden? By being present. I have been thinking about being present more. I feel distracted and foggy as the hum of activity in this house is only quiet late in the night. Today the rain has blessed me. It has made me long for the tin roof our old house had. It has made me long for the feeling I used to get when I would be outside in the wild wind bringing in animals out of the storm when I was ten. It has reminded me that time is going, going. Time is marching on and its a beautiful thing when you are present and the golden moments are blinding in their glory.