When you Wish

Earlier in the week, as I stood on the perpetually sunny porch saying goodbye to a piano student, I said to the mom, "I wish it would rain." Not understanding how anyone could wish for anything but the perfectly sunny warm-but-not-hot weather we were having, she questioned me. "Really?"

"I love rainy days," I said. "Ooooh, and especially thunderstorms." She didn't seem to share my sentiment, but didn't begrudge me mine. I told her about the wonderful Arizona monsoon season, the only virtue of Arizona summers, as far as I'm concerned. I looked forward to it all year long, maybe a transferred hope from previously wished-for white Christmases. Every afternoon for several weeks, beginning in late July or August, the dark clouds roll in, the sun is blackened, and the thunder begins. Magnificent shows of lightning. And then torrential downpours of rain. It's wonderful. It's bake cookie, read a book, watch a movie, open all the doors and windows, go out and dance in the rain kind of wonderful. I lived with that joy for seven years in the Phoenix valley, and another seven in the White Mountains of northern Arizona (where, frankly, the monsoon is even cozier!).

Southern California has lots and lots of virtues. But I miss the rain. I miss the thunder.

And then, just one day--well, not even a full 24 hours--after I made that wish to my piano mom on the sunny front porch of my home, what happened?

That's right, baby. Clouds. Dark ones. Taunting me with their heaviness and thickness. Will it? Won't it? It almost didn't matter. When there's so many sunny days, even a cloudy day is a nice break from routine. (How I miss real seasons, can you tell?)

But it did! It rained! And then? Thunder!

I listened to the weatherman on the radio while I waited for Lyndsay after school. "Weird Weather," they called it. Over and over again. "Unheard of, Weird Weather for June."

I just smile and say "Thank you!" Sometimes even the littlest answered prayers make such a difference.

Now we're in our third day of "Weird Weather". Rain. Clouds. Even thunder. Apparently dangerous thunder, because several people were killed and injured by our first day of Weirdness, and for that, I am deeply saddened.

But. The earth needs rain! And Jenna did too.

This morning while Conor practiced his "l's" and "oy's" I sat in the car in the rain. I read a book, and every now and then I just stopped to listen to it falling on the metal roof, on the windshield, on the ground. Feeling so satisfied, so relieved, so content.

And I almost wondered, 'what else should I wish for?'