Enough Already...Please!

     We’re in for another day of 60mph gusts or better. The rain is freezing cold and we’ve actually got snow at the top of our mountains! We normally don’t get these heavy rains and winds until November. I’m hoping that all these storms mean we’re getting it over with early and not that we’re going to have an extra long rainy season.

     Actually, we don’t have a rainy “season”. We get rain all year round. Most years we average around 150 inches of rain. But we always get a lot of storms in November. I can’t remember a Thanksgiving where we didn’t have heavy rains and gusting winds. A successful Thanksgiving dinner is one prepared without the interruption of a power outage.

     I received one detention while in high school. Just one…and it honest to goodness was not my fault.

     My mom had already been living out of state for a few years by then. My dad works in construction. He often had long hours starting before daylight and ending after dark. Because of this, I and my sister had to walk to school each day. Between our home and the school was a hill. It’s not very steep as hills go (it’s rather flat compared to, say, a San Francisco hill) but steep enough that we used to go sledding down it during the winter.

     One particular morning, I had a clarinet sectional before school. I was first chair so needed to be there to lead the sectional. I got close to the top of the hill and with the wind blowing so hard, I couldn’t make it up. The wind was pushing against me and as hard as I tried, I wasn’t moving forward.

     I was “stuck” there for what felt like an eternity. Cars were passing by, one even stopped to watch me. Nobody offered assistance. By the time the wind died down enough for me to get to the top of the hill, I was late.

     My band director wouldn’t accept my excuse of “the wind was stronger than me” so I received a detention. Needless to say, when we got even stronger winds a few weeks later and a tree fell on her car I was not very sympathetic.

     I’m crossing my fingers that our stormy season is almost over. I’m tired of chasing down my garbage can. I’m tired of listening to the howling wind when I should be asleep. I’m just plain tired.