It Never Rains, But It Pours

After months of extremely dry conditions, we have had an incredible amount of rain in the last three days.  Today, the day before Thanksgiving has been grey and wet.  Tonight, the rain is coming down in buckets and is accompanied by thunder and lightening as well.  At one point, the local tornado warning sirens went off.  After a few moments of debate the dog, cat, my housemate and I headed to the basement. We tuned in to a local TV station for an update and discovered, thankfully, that the weatherman didn’t understand why there were sirens going off in our county.  The real tornado warning was for locations two counties southwest of us.  I relaxed a bit upon hearing that news. It’s always unnerving to have the sirens go off, especially in the dark, but I found it particularly unsettling to hear them six days before the start of December.  Although there have been late fall and winter tornados in this region before, they are, thankfully, a rare occurrence.

In addition to long dry spells in the weather, I can go a very long time without an out-of-town visitor.  We may live in the city known as the Gateway to the West, but very few friends or family members pass through here.  Yet in the past two weeks, we have had three visitors: my brother and a couple of friends.  Robert came on Veterans’ Day. Kay, who used to live here, is a great friend and travel companion (Australia - 2000 and Spain - 2004).  She drove down from Chicago last Friday and spent the evening catching up with us, and we with her.  Another dear friend, Julie, took us totally by surprise, calling on Monday to say that she was in town and would love to drop by.  She came over for a couple of hours that very evening.  

It was great to see everyone, but I must say that, like the rain, I would love to spread these visits out a bit more evenly over the course of the year.  It may be months before another out-of-town friend turns up!  However, I can’t, or shouldn’t, complain.  It is far better to have three visits in short order than none at all.  On this, the eve of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for both the needed rain and the longed-for friends and family who turn up from time to time!