Finally, one
day after Mother’s Day, the grey and cloudy skies finally opened, and a deluge filled
the dry swamps, the drainage ditches, and the huge pond nearby. It rained all
night and it’s still raining hard. Flooding has overwhelmed ditches and
capturing ponds.
It has been
raining non-stop for hours today. The bull frogs in the pond were croaking
happily last night in a choral unison of “rum, rum, rum.”
Everything looks green, colors look more intense, and the birds are chirping harmoniously from all directions in the forest. The bird nesting under our deck is hiding at the moment but the resident fox came by to snatch the bones I left for her last night. A blue heron landed briefly by the pond but flew away.
On days like
today, nature comes alive, but humans disappear. The only vehicle that drove by
was the garbage pickup truck.
I am pensive,
waxing philosophically about our place on earth at this late stage in our lives.
It seems that time flew by, our children now have grey hairs, homes of their
own, some have children. We are happy and blessed with our children and
grandchildren, but I still don’t understand why we are here, what is the purpose
of life, of our lives? Why are we here?
I miss the
years of my youth, I miss my people, some of my relatives, the few friends I
have, and the place where I was born, a place where I no longer belong and
barely recognize.
My closest and
dearest relatives have passed away, my parents are gone, and all of my friends
have moved on. There are very few people left who are barely in our lives.
I have two
second cousins who live in the U.S. but none have made any contact so they
might as well live on another planet. Everyone is on Facebook, so impersonal
and sad, liking each other’s posts, or getting angry at total strangers, who
insult them. The world is smaller but a sad place, thanks to technology.
I am staring
out the window, watching the rain and the flooding in my back yard that is
greening everything. There is a sort of peace in being inside and dry, watching
the animals and birds playing in the rain and foraging for food. It’s a life
they enjoy in these moments, not wondering about their existence.
It's a dreary and rainy day but nature is green and alive.
