And afterwards it finally rained
Friday September 09th 2011, 10:54 pm
Filed under: Life

We’re still in the dry summer season, this place that alternates rain/drought on the six month schedule every year, and the air across the valley was brown and hard to breathe this afternoon. Thick enough to muffle thunder.

We decided to beat the Saturday crowd and get some grocery shopping done this evening.

“Did you hear that?”

Coming home…

You know you live in the city when at first you’re looking for the source of the light beam going upwards: who’s advertising what?

And then it happens again and, as your husband drives, you can see the clouds that weren’t there earlier charcoal-doodled against the dark sky and that flash of light against them is brighter this time.

By the third time, one right after another, the two of you are talking about heat-lightning storms, but there’s not a drop from the sky.

Then you pull in the driveway and start to unload the groceries and it’s strike after strike, right there right above your heads. Breathtaking–but not something to dawdle in. A former in-law’s grandmother died of being hit by lightning.

The young teenage neighbor is standing in the middle of the street with his buddy, the two of them watching the sky, and I get that; it IS cool, it’s part of Nature and therefore inherently interesting and it’s very very very unusual to see around here. But–

–and having raised four teenagers, I walked over towards them and asked them about what they’d seen, maybe the parts we’d missed while we were in the car. “Sorry, I’m being too deaf, say that again?” and I walked closer.

Having a middle-aged woman join your conversation when you’re keenly aware of the need to be cool around your friend: we’re out of here! They answered once to be polite and then left, quickly back inside.

Cue the Kenny Rogers, Mom version: You gotta know when to scold’em, know when to embolden’em, know when they’ll walk away, know how it’s done…


7 Comments so far
Leave a comment

Very cool.! You are a positively awesome Mom to your whole circle. And those teens didn’t have to fold ’em or hold ’em. The deal was done.

Comment by DebbieR 09.10.11 @ 12:08 am

I’ll have to remember that.We are off to the sheep and wool festival this morning , a remembrance celebration , this afternoon, Hope it rains soon!!

Comment by kristy phipps 09.10.11 @ 5:29 am

awesome! as I recall, a real thunder storm was a rarity out there in the bay area, and I also remember having a huge argument with a band director at my daughter’s high school about keeping the marching band on the field to practice during one — HELLO! holding large metal objects here — I figure his problem was that he was not a good conductor

Comment by Bev 09.10.11 @ 9:56 am

Last night I had headsets on watching a movie. Then Cliff came back from a walk about the time I heard something like rain. “Is that RAIN?” I asked. “Yeah, and thunder and lightening, too,” he answered. Wow!

Comment by Don Meyer 09.10.11 @ 10:12 am

MJ is a lightning strike survivor. I’m glad you knew how to scold ’em!!

Comment by Channon 09.10.11 @ 11:12 am

Jon Katz wrote about some such moment in one of his books where a more worldly neighbor wondered why he was out in a dangerous storm. Get. In. Side.

Comment by LynnM 09.10.11 @ 12:12 pm

LOL If only they knew they were talking to one of the coolest women on the block :-}

Comment by Diana Troldahl 09.10.11 @ 6:25 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)