RAIN

3 : rainy weather


Today brought rain. I've been praying for rain for days, so I couldn't complain that it arrived on a Saturday. We had gone so long without rain that my allergies were aflame, my flower beds arid and my family exhausted. Maybe my family's exhaustion had little to do with a short drought, but the rain helped revive us nonetheless.

This week was busy: four days of testing at school, two nights of dress rehearsal, twenty-two volunteers organized, one recital, one 5 AM workday start for my husband. The result of all of this was one tired family, but today our schedule was blessedly open.

We walked to the neighborhood bakery for breakfast, taking our time to look at flowers, pick up leaves and chat about our favorite color to paint a house. Our girls love this little bakery, and rightly so. Between the five of us, we had a chocolate chip brownie, choco cinnanna coffee cake, a brookie, a chocolate chip scone, an apple danish and an egg sandwich on a cheddar cheese scone.

Thus fortified, we headed back, hurrying a bit to make sure we were home before the clouds that had gathered during our breakfast emptied. We beat the rain by about fifteen minutes and everyone curled up with a book. Our house was blessedly quiet, the sound of pages turning, minds and bodies recharging.

The afternoon was equally slow-paced, bringing the bonus of time with our nephew, who played, laughed, crawled... and cried a bit, as babies do. But one joy of watching him on his home turf was that no housework beckoned. When he went down for his nap, I laid on the sofa to read while J read up on the Milwaukee Brewers and the girls colored, read and played charades.

Our flowers needed today's rain. They needed that deep soaking that only rain can bring. We needed it, too. We needed a day forcibly slowed down, to help us unwind from a hectic week and ready ourselves for the final stretch of this school year. We needed to soak up some time together and I'm thankful that came with the rain.