Thunderstorms

Thursday night, we had a thunderstorm! This is a huge deal to me, because I can't tell you the last time I even heard thunder before then! Of course, Bay Area thunderstorms can't possibly compare to the awe-inspiring and often deadly thunderstorms of Texas. But it was still cool. It was actually scary how windy it was. I was at work during the worst of it. B moved her car, for fear that a tree was going to fall on it. The dogs were incredibly unhappy. They were like, "Um, okay, let me explain something to you. There is a lot of air blowing around out there. With water in it. Air and water flying at us at rapid speeds. I'm not going out there. And if you get me out there, I'm sure as hell not going to pee. No, sir. You can just forget about that..."

So, yeah, taking them out for last walks seemed sort of fruitless, but we did it anyway. We have got to put those dogs on cue for "go potty." When dogs know the hand signals, they don't stand there, distracted by rain, with an expression that could only mean, "What the hell are we standing here for? Why aren't we inside??" They just go. But not these dogs. Oh, no. That would be too easy. Of course, I say "go potty" over and over, but it means nothing to them. Dogs learn body language (including hand signals) long before they learn words. Plus, we all say different things to them, from, "go potty," to "please pee," to "would you hurry the hell up already?" So they'll never catch onto word commands with us! Why we never thought to teach hand signals for relieving themselves when we teach them hand signals for everything else in the world is beyong all comprehension.

Anyway, so I actually thought the rain was pretty cool, despite the aggravation of being out in it with frightened animals. I love thunder and lightning. It's pretty exhilerating really! But, it didn't last long, and it seems as though the thunderstorms are gone for now. Maybe they'll come back. I'd like that.

Friday

On Friday, as I was driving home from a depressing meeting at work, I felt as though the weather matched my mood. It was so grey and foggy, and being dusk, the sky took on this bluish grey hue and appeared to cling tightly to the mountains, like a scared child clinging to his parent. I was aware of how beautiful the scene before me was along the highway, as droplets of rain sprinkled onto my windshield, but it was only beautiful in a dark, sad way. The kind of scene that usually calms and mystifies me and makes me want to write words like, "murmur" did nothing to bring me up out of my sad mood. It was nice to notice, though. It was nice that it was there.

I only felt better after Joe and I went out to the mall, shared a lemonade, and laughed at our silly jokes together. No matter how bad I feel, I can always count on being near Joe to make me feel better. I am truly grateful for that.

Why I Love Children

Well, let's be realistic. I don't love all children. But I love lots of them. And I want a few someday. Sometimes I think I want them now, but then, if someone says to me, "Do you have kids?", I respond with an emphatic, "No!" and suddenly feel extremely thankful that I don't have any yet. Apparently, that's something I'm not quite ready for!

Anyway, right now I get to spend time teaching kids, which actually feels pretty good and can be a lot of fun. I like telling them that all life, no matter how small, deserves our kindness and respect. With these kids in my presence, I'm ever so conscious of my actions. And since I say stuff like, "We're in their home, so let's be careful and gentle," I feel obligated to enact that as well. So much so, in fact, that when a mosquito landed on my wrist and began sucking my blood Wednesday afternoon, I gently brushed it away and said, "Hey, shoo! Thank you," as it flew away. I don't remember ever being like this before!! It's weird, really.

So, on Wednesday, I had a lot of fun with the kids. In fact, they were the best class we've had so far at the sanitation plant and marsh. They were attentive, asked all kinds of questions, and were really enthusiastic and well behaved. At one point, I was taking questions, and one girl made me laugh by pointing to my nose and saying, "Is that a piercing?"

"Yes it is," I said. "Okay, so let's go!" I began to walk down the trail and they followed, and I heard another girl tell her that her question was impolite. "No, that wasn't impolite," I said.

"Yeah," the first girl said. "I like it! It looks cool!"

"Well, thank you," I said and smiled.

Later, that same girl walked along beside me and took my hand. Just plain because she wanted to hold my hand while we walked. It was so endearing I nearly melted on the spot.

And the final and possibly cutest story of that day was at the end of their field trip. We'd found all sorts of interesting pond creatures at my water dipping station. Most of the kids get excited if we find minnows or crayfish, and usually they also like the dragonfly nymphs. When there's nothing else to find, there's at least always scuds. Scuds are small shrimp-like aquatic creatures that live in ponds. They are really tiny and move very fast in water, and are fun to look at under the magnified lenses of the Viewfinders we use. Anyway, most kids are disappointed if they only find scuds. Well not these kids! They were fascinated by them! And at the very end, when they were running off to their various cars to go back to school, one little girl did a 180, jogged back over to me and as she beamed from ear to ear, she said proudly, "Thank you for teaching me what a scud is!"

"Well, you're welcome!" I said and smiled as she ran off again.

Total and utter cuteness. I couldn't stand it. They made me smile so much that day.

It's those little things I find so endearing, you know.

I do love children.