It has been a very wet winter and spring around here. We are so very thankful as we have needed the rain and I have very much enjoyed the rain this season. This cool spring (we will probably set a record low for our high today – the current record is 64 degrees and we may not reach 54) is very enjoyable. We are appreciative of cooler days, more time for walks and gardening, etc. The heat will be here soon enough. Our spring and summer crops will be delayed though. Peaches and apricots normally start May 1st, but not this year. We are about 10 days behind. I am thankful though, for this little extra time before my life becomes insanely busy as it does every summer. No lazy days of summer for me.
Last night, Melanie and I were lying in bed reading stories and the wind picked up and hail started hitting the window. Then the rain came down even harder and Melanie tells me that she is grateful for the rain because our flowers need it. How right she is, but I was trying to explain hail to her and how it isn’t so kind to flowers or tiny blueberries or tree fruits. Which by the way, our largest stonefruit grower managed to avoid having his orchards hammered by hail 4 times this season already. Thanks be to God as last year his orchard suffered from freeze damage right at bloom, so the little fruits didn’t even stand a chance. It is hard for a farming family to survive crop damage and loss 2 years in a row. But I also learned something from this grower yesterday – there is such a thing as a hail cannon! It shoots very loud soundwaves into the atmosphere that causes the thunderheads to break apart. It fires every 5 seconds or so and in his general area there are 80 or so going at the same time so it can sound like artillery. Well, it along with lots of prayer worked – the hail bypassed his orchard again.
Anyhow, I digress… back to Melanie. So, after the hail stopped, the rain came hard but fast. It didn’t last long and then the sky became white with lightening and 20 seconds or so later the thunder hit. So, Melanie says – Mom, I think God is now angry! We had a good laugh and decided to turn out the lights and watch and listen for awhile. She cuddled up next to me and the lightening flashed a couple more times, followed by thunder and my thoughts immediately went to a time when I was a child lying in my upstairs bedroom in Iowa listening to the thunder and lightening crack and crash. I always hated it, the storms, the thunder, the lightening, the wind, the tornadoes. All of it. I never felt safe and Lord only knows why I never ran down from that room and hopped into the comfort and safety of my parents’ bed. I never did, I guess I thought my Dad might make fun of me, or I had too much pride to admit to him that I was scared. But it was silly of me to think that way. They love me!
Anyhow, at almost 35 years of age, I still don’t like thunder and lightening or wind. Many folks from Iowa say they are afraid of earthquakes, well I have a philosophy on that. I’ll take the ground shaking any day over the sky falling! First and foremost, you don’t know they are coming, so you can’t worry or fret about it. They just happen. Tornadoes on the other hand – you know they are coming and all that weather watching out the window and hiding under dining room tables and having your Dad stand at the front door and peer into the night and between flashes of lightening and wind sucking the screen door off, tell you “the barn is still there!” well, you can have it. Here, the ground shakes for a bit and it is over. Plus, it doesn’t happen very often – I have felt 3 earthquakes in my 25 years here in California. When there are on average over 25 storms or tornado warnings every summer in Iowa. So, I’ll take the earthquakes over tornadoes any day. Oh, and that story about the barn – yep happened to me when I was 4, so maybe that is why I don’t like storms. The barn that night stood strong – the only sign of damage was a soda can stuck under the edge – wonder how that happened? There was another shed just behind the barn that suffered a total loss. The power and force of wind is scary!
So, I made it a point to give Melanie and open invitation – that if she is ever scared, she can always run into our room and hop into bed with us. Then we cuddled up even tighter and fell fast asleep.
P.S. – No we don’t let Melanie sleep all night in our bed – my caring husband comes in after we have fallen asleep and carries her down the hallway to her bed. He knows how much I enjoy our quiet time, reading stories and talking about the day’s events all cuddled up in our pajamas in our bed. I learn a lot about Melanie’s day during these sessions. Last night she told me that they had a fire drill at school and how much she likes fire drills! :-) Interesting! She likes fire drills – is that because she gets out of class, she is too young to be thinking that way. Does she want to be a firewoman?! She stated that it was very important to stay with her class and not get mixed up with the other children! Very wise!
Thank you, Jason for allowing us this time together!
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