On Waiting....

Spring rain always reminds me of Nova Scotia. Our townhome has the lucky and unusual distinction of having a bedroom with a roof above (as opposed to, say, some random person`s linoleum) and when it rains here it makes the most relaxing pitter-patter on our rooftop patio. It lulls me to sleep and makes my body melt into my sheets. We are all sick, taking naps in shifts today. I think there has only been one or two hours in which we have all been awake simultaneously. Blame it on the rain.

The illness is one that was thoughtfully cultivated by some tiny Unitarian, and was seemingly amplified as it was passed along. Ender dealt with it like a champ, I was mildly ill, and Mike is/was knocked off his feet. It was also a fast onset, so we each got the sickness one day apart from eachother, our misery piling each upon the next. Two packages of tissues, one package of menthol cough drops, and a lot of complaining later, we all sit in the faux-gaslight of the living room. Mike reads in the rocking chair, Ender sleeps in my lap, I sit on the laptop bathed in blue light. We all breathe through our mouths. Occasionally someone sniffles. We all listen to the welcome monotony of the rain.

I wonder if everyone else remembers sitting in their parents car, watching fat rain drops slither, join and disperse like mercury. Cars take on a special smell when it rains. I could sit in one indefinitely, appreciating the forced conversation that always occurs in that tiny shelter. In Halifax the rain comes down torrentially, turning east-west roads into pounding rivers, making sidewalks almost unusable if one hasn't worn proper footwear. The sky opens and it pours for days and days, sometimes weeks. Here in Ontario people are shocked when it rains for a few days. Cars careen along highways when there is slight fog, causing huge pileups. In Nova Scotia, the mud, the fog, the rain, the temporary rivers, are all taken in stride. One must wait for the weather. I hope when I'm older I'll have a veranda, where Ender and I can sit and wait on the weather. The rain will drench the wood giving off that heady fragrance of summer as we wait, and wait, and talk. I want him to learn to wait, and enjoy the storms as they come.