God's Work

I just finished watching my auntie's production of Their Eyes Were Watching God. The storm scene in there hit me particularly hard. Since I was a little lady I've been obsessed with abnormal weather. And today was one of those days. It's one of those porch sitting nights. Warm, extra windy. Just gorgeous.


Ever since I can remember the weather has played a big part on my emotions. Today triggered some memories of my childhood that I haven't thought about in a long time. So I decided to blog about some various weather conditions and the memories they triggered for me.

Rain
One of my aunties and one of my uncles passed within a year of each other. Both were my mother's siblings. I think they both passed before I hit the age of 10. Both died on rainy days. Every time it would rain hard my mother would put on Sam Cooke. Sam was her brother's (my uncle) favorite artist. On days when she really missed him (sad days) the song was "A Change is Gonna Come". On days where she would remember his silliness and smile, she played "We're Having a Party" and "Twisting the Night Away." To this day, I think about "A Change is Gonna Come" when I see rain. I can see my mother putting on the record and sitting on the couch looking through pictures or cooking something in the kitchen.

Rain always reminds me of reflection. A time to think, a time to evaluate.

Rain also reminds me of the flood of '93. For some reason, my immediate family was in St Louis visiting my extended family. I was either 7 or 8 (depending on what time of year it happened, I can't remember and don't feel like looking it up). Me, my grandmother and two of my cousins had gotten caught in the flood. I don't remember where we were coming from, but I do remember having on a big white dress. My grandmother, who was driving, was trying to concentrate on driving safely, while me and my cousin (who was the same age as me) were asking questions galore. Finally my older cousin, who would have been 12 or 13, got me and my cousin to stop asking questions and start "chasing raindrops" down the windows with our fingers. Funny the things your mind recalls. I know my grandmother was probably scared to death, but we made it out safely and that game kept us occupied for a while.

Wind
Like I said, today is an extremely windy day. Earlier I was walking home from working out and watched as the leaves swirled around in the air about 5 inches off the ground. I took time to appreciate how the tree limbs swayed and the branches buoyed up and down. Then, almost immediately after, I started to think about how my dad taught me to fly kites and how his love for it made me appreciate it. When he would take me out there and try to teach me how to get the kite off the ground and to stay in the air, I would look up at him and see how much care he put into making sure it stayed in the air once it got up. I called him up and we reminisced on it for a second. In the condo complex we lived in for 10 years there was a soccer field. He used to take me down to this soccer field and we would fly kites for hours. I had seriously forgotten about it until today.

Snow
Man, growing up in Cleveland, snow brings back HELLA memories. The snow forts, the stash of snowballs, the snow angels, the slips and falls, the hot cocoa and those ugly ass snowsuits. Man...too many memories and almost all of them good. It's probably why there are few sights more beautiful to me today than a fresh blanket of snow.

Ice
A few years back, there was a terrible ice storm in St Louis. My house sits on a hill and in order to get to the front door you have to walk on an incline. Somehow, St Louis County Schools were not convinced that the ice storm was a worthy reason to cancel school (or it happened during the school day, but I really think I was right the first time) and I ended up going to school. After the bus dropped me off, I started to walk up my driveway like normal to get to my front door. No such luck. It was covered with ice probably an inch to an inch and a half thick. Not even my Timbs would catch onto that stuff. So I try to walk in the grass, up my front lawn and to the door. Uh uh. That too was iced over. So how did I end up getting into my house? I had to crawl up my front lawn, using my keys as ice picks. Not fun, not fun at all.


Damn, this honest blogging can rub off on a person, huh? Ehh, that's enough of that sappiness, memories and whatnot.