Flashback Friday - Bring on the Rain

If I had to pick a word for this summer, just one word, it would be

BRUTAL. 

Capitalized, even.

It's not just me and my barely acclimated Maryland blood.  Lifelong Georgia residents have grown weary of it too.  Summer came early and hard around the middle of May and hasn't relented one bit since then.  I don't remember the last time we had a high temperature of less than 90 degrees.  (I believe the single occurrence was the weekend of the 4th of July, during which we traveled to Maryland and enjoyed their hottest temperatures yet of the summer.  We took it with us up there, I guess.  You're welcome, Georgia neighbors.)

It hasn't just been the temperatures, but in true Georgia fashion, the humidity has hung right up there in percentage along with the reading on the thermometer.  You haven't experienced "hot" until you've come to Georgia in the near 100 degree temperatures with 90% humidity and heat indices in the 1-teens or higher.  In conditions like that, you sweat, of course - but your sweat mechanism no longer functions the way it is supposed to because there's so much moisture in the air that your sweat has no where to go.  And that's why it feels even hotter than the thermometer reads.  That's why heat index is a much more accurate measure of misery.  You know it's pretty darn miserable when your body's cooling mechanism is rendered useless.

It's been so hot that I find myself getting excited when it's "only" going to be 91 or 92.  What's up with that?  That's still hot, Jennie.

Have I lost you yet?  This post is not starting out in a very chipper manner.  I apologize.

What's been different about this summer, for me, is that we haven't been getting the typical afternoon thundershowers.  In summers passed, we could count on an afternoon thundershower a few times a week even if it only lasted a couple of minutes.  I've always felt like it was nature's form of sweating,  God's way of saying, "Wow, it was pretty hot for you guys (and plants and animals and parking lots) - here's a drink to quench your thirst."

And even though it's intolerably humid after those thundershowers, at least it kept my grass fairly un-crunchy.  And my flowerbeds mostly un-shriveled.  And the sidewalk cool enough that it didn't blister the bottoms of my feet when I went out to check the mail.

If you've ever been to my part of central Georgia, you might know how unbelievably flat it is around here.  As a civil engineer, it makes things interesting for designing stormwater runoff systems, but I know most of you don't care a bit about that.  It also poses a challenge for contractors who build roads at minimum slopes.  One such example of this can be found in front of my very own house.

Every single time it rains intensely, we get a pretty little river in the road.  My flashback today is one part river and one part rain.  Both of which seem to be nothing but a memory for me right now.

I remember discovering the drainage problem when we first moved in...before Abby was even born.  It's not something that can be easily fixed without significant damage to our front yard, nor is it really a problem other than some standing water that eventually goes away.  But, I'll tell you what...Ben loved it.  (And still loves it, along with peering in the inlet to which the water is supposed to drain and watching the amazing amounts of water rushing through the pipes.  My little engineer in the making.)

There's a 50% chance of rain tonight and a 60% chance of rain all weekend.  I apologize to anyone whose plans would be ruined by rain this weekend, but I say "Bring it on".  I am craving a good rainy day, happy grass, and the chance to let my kids splash around in our own personal front yard river.  I'm craving the pitter patter of raindrops on my window.  I'm craving a cloudy day that makes colors pop like no other.  Throw a rainbow in on top of that, and I think my soul could handle another four month drought.

To everyone who stops by my little blog, I'm so grateful for you.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

And if it rains on you this weekend and you don't want it to, I'll take full responsibility and make it up to you with cookies.  Cookies make everything better, right?