The gift of time

Today, as the skies rumbled filled with thunder and streaks of lightning, I asked for a day off. I would do this only when I know the office will not be burdened by my absence-especially since it is my retirement job, two days per week, and I like it a lot.

My morning was filled with the sound of rain…I am happy to have this gift of time to appreciate

the moisture falling from the still dark gray sky. The rain barrels are now over-filled; this observation not a complaint. The ground has hungrily accepted all of the 5 ½ “from the past three days. The ground was parched and crackly dry…fire-dry is what kept sticking in my head.

We have had large costly fires in summers past and this summer has up to now been the hottest on record for the country. Almost every day until yesterday throughout the month of July has reached or topped the 100 degree mark. This with accompanying humidity has made it uncomfortable for many. People who work in industries such as my son in Sheet metal and his roommate in Cabinetry are in large buildings cooled by fans. When it is 100 degrees and humid, fans do not make the day that pleasant. I am grateful for air-conditioned homes.

I remember visiting at my Grandparents home in Minnesota as a child-up until my teen years. There was no air-conditioning and though in the northern tier of states, still had summers that could be quite hot. Many nights I sat outside until long after dark, just to put-off going upstairs to sleep in the heat. Then there were the mosquitos to accompany the hot sticky nights. I sat for hours in the upstairs window in the room we slept in…wishing for a breeze to drift through offering a few minutes of relief. I believe at some point there was a window air-conditioner in the downstairs, but that offered relief only if you were in the downstairs. In later years, my parents slept in our air-conditioned camper as we had limited sleeper space inside the small wood frame house built by Grandfather and his sons and probably a brother or two the year my mother graduated from high school.

The basement ,n the other hand, always felt cool even on the hottest days. That was a favorite place to be and many smells of early childhood came from being in that basement. My Grandpa’s huge electric saws and woodworking equipment were there and the scream of the saw and the smell of fresh sawed wood  burned into my brain. Even today, I like to savor those smells and will sometimes get out my small orbital sander to mimic the odor of being near him and playing in the sawdust with scraps of wood.

Now it is early afternoon; the rain has stopped and peaks of sun appear. I am grateful for the slow, easy morning drinking coffee, watching and listening to the morning storms move through. You are never to old to take time out to savor life-just as I did for myself today.

© Nancilynn Saylor  7/27/2016

Pictures from the morning storm

Rain on the greenhouse on the back patio

Rain on the front lawn

The rain gauge filled