Puddle-jumpin' -

"Well it's raining, and it's pouring ... and the puppy, well, she is snoring ..."

I'm tellin' you, people. Today, it did not so much look like FL but more like Ireland or Seattle. And as of today, I decided that I did not want to move to Ireland or Seattle. "No thank you, God. I mean, unless You want me there, then I'll deal with it." But I've only seen the sun ONCE in 48 hours and my brain is feeling soggy. Soggy and squishy like anything you step on outside. 'Cept the cement of course, that would be bad. Hey, I remember ... no complainin'. But I'm only sayin' something about the rain because I've gotta' mention what came with it.

*clears throat*

Lightning and thunder and wind and lots of it. Which meant ... after being cooped up in the house all. day. long. listening to said rain, thunder, wind, and lightning, I couldn't go outside and ENJOY it, because I didn't want to be electrocuted. I mean, duh, right? Am I going too fast for you here?

Ok. So every single time I pulled on my wellies to tromp out in the rain, to happily get a little fresh rain scent and air, and step outside....I kid you not, the silent, happy, beautiful, flowing rain turns into Vertigo Inducing White Flashes of Electricicle and instantly boom into thunder which overshadows any rain that falls. Aka: Step in a puddle with this going on, and your boots will become a melted tire on the melted cement and you will be ... duh. melted. no wait. fried.

(and yes, it all had to be in Caps. It makes it more official that way.)

It was the craziest thing!! So of course, I would sigh and tromp back inside. Out, in, *sniffles*Out, in, Out, *frowns*, in, Out ... *glares at sky* in. And then ... and THEN ... I complained to Becs. Yes. I'm sorry. I guess I broke the rule. But seriously. GO AWAY lightning!! I wanted to run around in the rain and splash through the puddles and enjoy the knowledge I wouldn't be dead faster than I could think. And as I told you, all I had to do was step out the door, and lightning would flash and in 2 seconds thunder would roar. -.- it was getting old.

SEE. SEE how much water? It was lovely. the rain, that is.

and so I talked with Becs. Because we are more talkative when we have Weather Threats, which is weird until you remember we are both NASA brats, which means we read NOAA, and can scan doppler radars like most school kids can scan text. *ahems* Because we've had the FIYAH and then THIS this month. We've been busy. So as I'm looking back at our chat on g-mail, I realize that we talked for 2 hours. On and off. but TWO hours. We had a lot to cover. Including me realizing how good of friends we are when she asked me if my "failure" of taking good rain pictures was just a "regular fail" or an "epic fail". Thanks, honey. I love you too. I burst into laughter more than once, and she had my whole family laughing when I told them she had walked straight into a calf-deep puddle in a parking lot without seeing it. NICE.

and then we sang "The rains came down and the floods came up" except I'm not sure I got all the words right until the end, when we simultaneously said "splat!!!" for the house on the sand. *tap tap. is this thing still on? ya'll?*

and so then we continued to talk, and she said she was sad with me when my family didn't want to go out when the lightning went away to jump in puddles with me. Yes. I know!! Read and weep for me. Read and weep. So I decided they would remember in years down the road how much they missed and I would most likely royally rub it in, so why not enjoy life to the full?

So then I went in the garage and pulled on my wellies, and I stepped outside and GLORY BE ... no lightning nor thunder to hear or see. YAY!! and then I stomped and sloshed and shrieked in glee as I got soaking wet from the puddles and rain. It was the best part of my week, ya'll. Unbelievable how much joy that generates in me. Once, dad came out and walked down to the end of the road with me to see the 18 inches of water collected in the gulley, and the split tree, and this conversation is what followed ....

"slosh slosh slosh slosh slosh slosh ... SLOSH SLOSH SLOSH ... Me: "Look Dad! I have about a liter of water in each wellie boot! MUWAHAHAHAHAa!!!" Dad: *laughing* Me: "you have no idea how hard it is to run in these now" ... SLOSH SLOSH *JUMP* ... SPLASH ... stomp stomp stomp ... *evil laughter* ... stomp stomp ... slosh." yes. oh yes. I loved it.

and I got royally SOAKED in that rainy-wet joy. See? See me standing in the rain?

and THIS was my expression when I realized I could wring water out of my clothes, and THOSE are my wellies. In the daylight. back on one of those "enlightening" trips. *laughs at pun* Hey, you don't have to laugh, no pressure ... I'm 99.9999999% sure that I'm the one who gets the biggest kick out of this blog anyways. ;)

So. I got my puddle-jumping in after all, and am SO thankful for it. :) God is so kind to give me joy in such a little thing, that became a big thing! I'm not exactly sure, but I think everyone on our street could hear me shrieking in joy and laughing as I stomped and jumped in happiness. ;D

I love you, my friendly, most-likely-now-sleeping readers ....

Slumber peacefully, for it lightnings no more here on the Coastal Shores of

the Floridian Wetlands .... and I do mean WET. LANDS. Good gracious. ;)

Joyfully,

~ Jean Marie ~