Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Dream Possibly Deferred Due To Rain


It is still raining. Now I am not complaining. I am happy. I am glad. We need every drop.

But it's been so long that we got rain like this that I'd forgotten that rain can mess up a plan.

I'm going over to Lily's this morning to stay with Owen while she and Jason go to get an ultrasound and then we were going to take that boy to what we fondly call the Junior Museum to see all the farm animals and the bears and the deer and the foxes and the gators. We planned a picnic. I don't think it even occurred to us that it might be...raining.

And yet, here it is.

Raining on my sprouting lettuces and beans and tomatoes and that row of potatoes I obviously missed in the digging-up process and so I am getting a new crop out of that, albeit a small one. Raining on the bananas and oaks and roses and beauty berry and ferns and firespike and wild phlox and pecans and raining on every living thing not shut inside.
And it will be raining on the old farm with its old pioneer cracker houses and raining on the cows and mules and turkeys and chickens and on the bears hiding in the woods where the walkway carries you over their habitat.

Mmmmm....

What will we do?

I don't know but I dreamed I delivered a baby last night. It was a precipitous birth and I told the mama that she needed to tell me her midwife's name and the girl admitted that she'd never seen the midwife and so there we were and that baby came out feet first and she was the cutest thing you've ever seen and then the mama got up to go home and that was fine but then I remembered the placenta! Get back here! I said, We need to do this thing right! Besides, I hadn't made sure that the baby had a good latch yet, knew how to nurse. I think that as another child approaches, my grandmother genes are kicking in again and I am going through the check-list of how to get a baby here safely, how to ensure his or her success at being alive.

And then I woke up and it was raining and I thought about Owen, my already-here grandchild and how disappointed he's going to be.

Well, maybe it will clear up although I am loathe to wish for that.
Every drop is important. Every drop of this free water from the sky hitting the ground beside me as I write this on the porch, as Elvis calls to be let out, as the dogs take for an excuse to lay around and dream their doggy dreams, as the animals at the Junior Museum go back to whatever dreams they have.

A day made for dreaming when all the boy wanted was to go see the mules at the museum, was to spend a day with his mama and his grandmama and maybe his auntie and grandfather outside.

Some dreams need to be deferred for lifetimes or for years or perhaps just for a week or two.

That is the way of dreams and their magic, their power, and their mystery.

And whether I wish the rain would go away or not, it will do as it will, unaffected by whatever I may think or hope.

I find this incredibly comforting- that I have no control whatsoever about certain things but must be ready to deal with whatever reality presents itself.

I guess that calls for an amen.

Amen, y'all. Amen.

10 comments:

  1. The weather channel says it's not supposed to rain tomorrow and the boy has been asking to see the animals. We were tentatively planning a trip to the junior tomorrow. wanna meet us there?
    Love, daddyb

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  2. Glad for the rain. We have had it here for a couple of days. Hopefully, a plan B will be made for Owen. I am sure that he will be happy with whatever you come up with.

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  3. Amen, and glad to hear you are finally getting some good rain.

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  4. It amazes me how many people can't, won't go with the flow and how much stress that puts in their lives.

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  5. Glad you and your garden got some rain. It's raining here, too. My son is home sick from school with a cold and I feel like declaring today Official Nap until You Grow a Beard Day.

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  6. Well, as you know, we're no strangers to the rain-stopped-play experience :)

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  7. These are the things that will teach Owen to go with the flow, as Ellen put it.

    You know... eventually.

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  8. I thought about you and Owen and the Junior when I woke up this morning and saw that it was raining again. It looks like the sun is trying to come out now, so maybe he'll get to see the animals after all. I know you will have fun though as long as you are together!

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  9. It rained on my trivia night last night, but everyone stuck it out and had fun anyway.

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  10. We had one day of rain last week. I miss it already. Enjoy!

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