Month: February 2011

  • Singing in the rain

    It is 25 degrees here right now. I realize that’s what some of you northern folks refer to as Spring, but down here that is flat out cold. Like two pairs of socks and break out my seldom worn long-johns kind of cold. Or, better yet, stay inside by the fire where it’s warm and the hot chocolate flows like milk and honey cold.

    Last night I slept in Caroline’s room. I’ve actually been sleeping in there every night since she was sick last week because we have a loose system of sleeping arrangements around here. We basically go with whatever bed seems the most comfortable and has the least amount of snorers and/or coughers. Which I guess, technically would be P’s bed right now because I have contracted Caroline’s cough and she’s still congested and we are just a noisy, wheezy pair. I don’t think P is sad that we’re in exile in the other part of the house.

    Anyway, I woke up about 3:00 a.m. when the cold front started blowing in. The wind was unbelievably loud and the trees outside her window were making a huge racket. And then the birds started to go bananas. They were chirping and tweeting and singing. It sounded like there were a hundred of them outside her window.

    I wondered if maybe a nest had gotten blown down in the wind and figured they would quiet down in a minute. Then the rain started to pour and they continued to tweet and sing. I’d never heard anything like it. I laid there in bed and began to wax poetic about how the little sparrows (or whatever they happened to be) were presenting such a great analogy of life. I began to compose a blog post in my head about the importance of remembering to sing even during the storms of life and how they are such a beautiful picture of trusting God with all that comes our way.

    And then I drifted back off to sleep.

    Until Caroline woke me up about thirty minutes later to let me know that our sound machine had somehow been switched from the sound of Rainfall to Tropical Rainforest.

    Which would explain why the birds were still chirping.

    And, also, the monkeys.

    Best I can tell, the power went out for a brief moment when the wind started to howl. And the sound machine automatically resets itself to Tropical Rainforest anytime it’s disconnected from a power source.

    I’m going to blame the Benadryl that I took right before bed as the reason it didn’t occur to me that you generally don’t hear the call of the Keel-Billed Toucan in South Texas.

    However, I still maintain that it’s important to sing through the storms of life.

    Amen.

  • All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray

    Well, the weathermen are saying that we’re about to get hit with the coldest weather of the season. AND, there is even talk of snow. Or at least snow flurries. I realize that many of y’all have had your fill of snow this year, but I would welcome snow with open arms because we’ve had approximately between zero and none inches of snow. Nary a flake.

    But I’ll believe it when I see it because our meteorologists tend to get a little bit excited at the thought of an Arctic Blast. They even originally predicted we might have some snow by tomorrow, but by the next night they recanted with a “there have been rumors of snow but they are false” at which point P talked out loud to the T.V. and said, “YOU’RE THE ONE STARTING THE RUMORS”.

    I also made the mistake of mentioning the possibility of snow to Caroline and now she is convinced she needs a snowsuit. Bless her heart.

    In other non-weather related news, I cannot thank you enough for all the book suggestions yesterday. I seriously started to get stressed out that we won’t have time to read them all before her childhood is over. Clearly I don’t have enough things to worry about.

    Also, while I was out yesterday afternoon, I noticed that our entire neighborhood smells like skunk. I don’t know why that made me feel better, but it did. Stinky misery loves company.

    Lastly, I’m going to leave you with a few pictures I took of Caroline playing in the leaves last week on one of the days she was home sick from school. What can I say? The weather was gorgeous, the yard was full of leaves, and it just seemed right. Croup or no croup.

    If you want to really make these pictures come alive, just imagine a little voice yelling, “MAKE THE PILE BIGGER! KEEP RAKING, MAMA! KEEP RAKING!”

    And that’s why I sent her back to school the next day.