On Saturday night the windows of heaven opened!
For those of you who have never had the opportunity of experiencing a tropical rainfall, let me tell you that it is both a thrilling and a frightening thing. Our rainy season may well have begun already – a good month or so early. At any rate, the thunder boomed and roared, and the rain pounded in an unbelievable deluge. What made it all very exciting though, was the wind – tremendous gusts that drove the rain into almost vertical sheets – straight into our living room and kitchen, not to mention the water which cascaded off of the roof in a Niagara Falls onto the neighbor’s roof and from there into our hallway.
This all began around midnight, on a hot and muggy night with thunder rolls which virtually rattled the teeth in ones head. When the rains then began, we – Len, Leona, Theresa and I – armed ourselves with whatever we could find; brooms, mops, sheets of plywood cutoffs, and began the three-hour task of fighting the torrent. We could not keep the ankle-deep water from flooding the living room and bathroom, but we did keep it out of the bedrooms. Unfortunately the storage rooms were invaded and needed to have the bilges operate. All-in-all it made for an eventful night. At around 2:30 am when we were finally able to sit down and look around at the carnage, we all decided that it was too bad that we had no pictures to show. Unfortunately, cameras were the last thing on our mind at the time.
The following day we walked around the area and noted the flotsam lodged in the bridges some six to seven feet above the usual dry riverbeds. It was quite a storm – not quite the perfect storm, but none-the-less, a good one!
Through this all I have had a monumental enlightening – an epiphany of sorts – there are reasons why people have windows in their houses, especially if they live in a hurricane prone area!
However, diluvial water levels do not happen all the time, nor indeed, most of the time. Most rains require only some mopping and pushing of water out of the living room and down the hallway and into the minuscule drain along the side of the walkway. Most times the bathroom, kitchen and higher ground are spared. The storage areas however, do take the brunt of the onslaught all the time. But, just one more fun thing about living in Mexico. At least one knows what he will be doing on a nice, muggy, hot summer night when the heavens rumble, and spill out their furry.
I will write a more serious column soon. I must admit yet once again to being a victim of the tyranny of the urgent. I will never understand why there is always a pile of “to-be-taken-care-of-in-the-most-urgent-manner” items on my desk perpetually, and why I always feel as if I am behind the 8-ball. I have the best of intentions always, but as one knows from dear old auntie Gertrude – “twixt cup and lip t’is many a slip”. Just about the time that I think that I have chiseled out a few minutes to sit down to the keyboard something new pops up which needs to be looked after. Am I complaining? No – well, maybe a little – but it sure does make for a very interesting life. At the end of the day it is easy to lay back into bed and see that God’s hand has been present throughout. It is invigorating!
By-the-by, my buddy Jason has done it yet one again! Some of you faithful have asked if there was a “comment” area on the blogs. As of this posting, there is. Keep it nice I get embarrassed easily!
