Chance of Rain

Chance of Rain

The first summer of our marriage was dry and hot. The mountains caught fire, the grass died, and there were so many people at the public pool you could hardly move.  I know that’s not uncommon for Utah, but for some reason that summer felt worse than others. It was the first summer we both worked full-time 8-5 jobs, and we took it so seriously that we hardly went on any vacations. We were training for our first marathon and the only way we could escape the sweltering heat was to run at 5am (that happened about once) or 10pm with our headlamps. It was also our first summer in the Love Grotto, a quaint and cozy, heat trapping attic. The place came equipped with a tiny window unit that only partially worked, but mostly spit out mysterious black dust. At night we would leave all the windows and even the front door open in hopes that some of the cool night air might seep into our oven-like abode.  Every morning we found both the air and my foolproof home burglary system of crisscrossed brooms untouched.  It took Noel months to convince me that purchasing some fans and a new air conditioner unit wouldn’t be a waste of our resources.  It was miserable.

I’m the kind of person that generally gets excited about thunderstorm warnings. I love how a hot afternoon can change to a downpour with the right combination of air currents  and that summer I prayed for this phenomenon more than ever. Anytime there was 10% chance of rain I took my rain jacket to work, ignoring my co-workers snickers at my unfailing optimism. For months that rain jacket accompanied me home hugged in the nook of my sweaty arm. It wasn’t until the weekend before school started that rain finally came and when it did Noel and I weren’t the only people standing in our yard, faces turned to the sky, beaming as water streamed down our skin.

Weather wise, this summer has been my favorite to date, but I still watch the weather for those blessed thunderstorm warnings. Yesterday my patience was rewarded and I was able to share my enthusiasm with Cooper as I took him puddle jumping for the first time.

I think he likes it. Thunderstorms here are pretty similar to Utah, although apparently they can get some pretty wicked microbursts. We just make sure we put our car in the garage when the sky gets menacing,

This house is actually about a mile down the street from us and got hit pretty bad by a microburst last summer. It's even more dramatic in person

3 thoughts on “Chance of Rain

  1. Yeah, that summer of 2007 was hot for us too. I remember hiking to the windcaves at 3:00 PM with Brandon on the 4th of July. I told him that for the sake of our marrage we should never hike in the afternoon again.

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