As the season crescendoes to its finale, most of us fulltimers cry out with a sodden optimism, “Ojala! The sun will shine soon.”
Sure, we love the opulence of the lush forests, the delicious panoply of the greenest greens on the planet, the extraordinary diversity of wildlife, not to mention the healthiest air on Earth. What’s not to love, right? I’ll tell ya what. Grey, overcast skies, moldy clothes and cabinets, and vicious thunderstorms, to name but a few.
Just the other day, I was trying to put on a good face to one of my critique groups by bragging about how great the rainy season is for focus and productivity. Don’t get me wrong. I’m jazzed about focusing intensely on my manuscript, getting it ready to send out into the abyss of the unknown, but that energy is waning in a soggy lethargy. The closer I get, the farther the finish line becomes. When is enough enough? After an amazingly insightful critique from a new partner, I spent hours editing my opening, tweaking a few words here and a phrase or two there, which made a world of difference. A whole new level of subtlety and nuance was infused into my oeuvre. How did I not see that before? What else haven’t I seen?
My apprehension about perfection versus art slows my momentum as October, the pinnacle month in terms of inches of rain, grinds on. It’s hard to stay positive in this grey, mildewy milieu. It’s nothing like those blessed snow days of my youth, where the fluffy, white stuff closed down schools and forced a mandatory “free” day from the drudgery of the classroom to the exhilaration of sleds and tobogans. After hours of fun, there was usually a roaring fire and hot chocolate to balance things out and warm the soul.
There are no such delightful extremes here in rainy season. It’s just rain and more rain, along with reddish mud that stains everything it touches, and algae so slippery you need boots and walking sticks to traverse the slight incline of the concrete driveway. And don’t get me started on the thunder and lightning, cuz yeah, we got struck again last week. Not our property this time, the community gate and some of the cameras were taken out in a fiery bolt of destruction.
Last night, it was raining so hard we decided to stay in and heat up a pot of vegetable barley soup instead of going out for dinner. Ojala for that decision, or our dogs would have been locked in the house for over seventeen hours! We got hit with yet another slide on the road leading into our community. The third one in as many weeks. This time, the avalanche of mud and falling trees took out the power lines and internet cables, completely blocking the road. More dramatic than a measly ole snow day, by a mile, I’d say. Pura Vida!
Judy Richter 