Monsoon

The rain doesn't stop.

My backyard is flooding.

The ground is so saturated it cannot absorb anything more...anywhere.

And yet it keeps pouring.

I can hear Johnny Cash amidst the steady rhythm of the rain.

My mama always taught me that good things come from adversity if we put our faith in the Lord. We couldn't see much good in the flood waters when they
were causing us to have to leave home, but when the water went down, we found that it had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt across our land. The following year we had the best cotton crop we'd ever had.

I remember hearing:

How high's the water, mama?
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Two feet high and risin'


"Ron the water is a mere foot from the backdoor. What should I do?"

I could hear him thinking in the quietness.

I continued, "A lady at the kindergarten told me I needed to get sandbags."

Now I have never had to buy sandbags, and it rains in Pittsburgh too. Then I heard Ron's voice tell me I could probably wait.

I know he is busy, and I really do hate being a damsel in distress.

As I looked out over the rising water, I knew I did not want the water flowing into my house.

As my mind raced, I realized I could just roll up my pants and find my favorite flip-flops and wade in to find this drain the little Asian neighbor insisted we had. Admittedly, I started looking for a high tech drain, but then as I moved things around, I realized that it was merely the three inch gravel strip between the sidewalk and fence. However, it was blocked with debris, so I started working. As the water slowly started to flow, I realized it wasn't level enough to be efficient, so water adventure continued.

By the time I came inside, my feet were a bit cold, but the water was receding. I had rescued myself, so of course I proudly phoned my husband. His response?

"You really are an irrigator!"

Let me digress, I graduated from a rival high school that called themselves the Irrigators. A scary mascot, admittedly, but reflective of how the farms survived there.

Dad, I may not have been technically irrigating because I was not watering crops, but I did manage to divert the water despite the rudimentary design.

I wonder where I got such a crazy idea anyway ;)