Prayers For Rain

“Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain.” ― Vivian Greene

I am writing this during a much needed thunderstorm. We have experienced drought conditions in the area for the last few weeks. No rain, high temperatures, lots of sun, and suffering lawns and gardens. We’ve had a few broken promises of rain from meteorologists with sick senses of humor, but no rain. (I know, I know, it’s not an exact science. But still.)

Tea and coffee weather

It’s probably an old guy thing, but I appreciate every rainfall for what it is. We literally need every inch we can get. Of course, there are those hundred-year flood events we seem to have every five or ten years; catastrophic events that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. But they are exceptions…at least for now. The rest of the “normal” rainfall events are to be celebrated, or at least I choose to. Climate change may continue to dictate changes we’d never planned on.

Minnconsin: Land Of 25,000 Lakes

We are incredibly fortunate to live in a region of abundant water. Allegedly, Wisconsin has 15,000 lakes, and my home state of Minnesota has 10,000. Rather than turn this into a debate about who has more lakes, I think we should rejoice because we have these resources. Lakes are drying up all over the globe, so good old Midwestern thunderstorms can recharge area lakes, rivers and streams, and we should count that as a win. Rain might spoil the outing you had planned, but considering the environmental benefits, it’s a decent sacrifice. Sometimes you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone.

When I think back, there are some great and not-so-great memories of rain encounters. The absolute best one took place when I was 11 or 12 years old. I was playing a pickup game of football with a bunch of neighborhood kids at the Greek Orthodox Church near our house. They had a large, rectangular green space that made a great field.

Midway through our game, it started to rain. None of us wanted to quit, so we just played on. Well, then the monsoon started, and it rained hard. Obscenely hard. Me and the other boys rationalized we could only get so wet, so we played on. The turf was slick, and the passing game became problematic. What I remember most was the smile you couldn’t wipe off any of our faces. It was unbridled, unhinged juvenile fun and would have given our mothers heart attacks if they knew what we were doing. It obviously made a lifelong impression on me. We were the poster children for not having enough sense to come in out of the rain. Unbottled happiness.

Be Prepared, or not

Another good one happened when my brothers and I were camping in the BWCA in the late 80s. We were cooking a late dinner while sitting and watching the “heat lightning” in the distance. It seemed fairly harmless, so none of us were concerned. It was then that a couple of large drops hit. You know the kind. They are sent by Zaza, the god of rain, as a warning to take cover. These warning drops were followed by a downpour. The problem was that we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. The four of us took cover under a handheld tarp and shared a pot of baked beans that served as dinner that night. Again, the inability to control the weather only caused laughter in the deluge. When life brings rain, you build a boat.

Kitchen and pantry, BWCA style

The scene was similar years later when I was camping with my brother and our kids. The forecast was for rain on and off throughout the trip, so we made accommodations ahead of time. We created a tarp kitchen followed by a tarp dining lounge. Both served us well over the rainy few days we had. My kids were prepared with ponchos and rain gear and made the best of it. At one point it started raining midday, and they all piled into a 5 person tent and played cards. As I sat in one of their 2 person tents listening to the cousins giggling, laughing, and occasionally screaming, I couldn’t help but relish in the fun they were having. It made my heart happy. Some kids might have pouted and complained, but not these. The rainy weather had been turned into a catalyst for memories.

Fish camoflauge

I’ve fished in the rain a few times over the years as well. When we were in Canada one year, the guide took us around one rainy morning. I’d purchased really good rain gear in preparation for a situation just like this and was glad I did. The friend I had in my boat had skimped on cheap rain gear, and it leaked. At one point he said, “I didn’t pay to fish in this weather.” I didn’t want to make him feel worse by saying, “Well, I did,” but that’s certainly what I was thinking. The old saying goes: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing,” pretty much summed up that little outing.

A few years ago in the fall, we were muskie fishing in a light rain that turned to a steady, not-so-light rain. Of course, we caught a decent muskie in the middle of it, so we kept at it. Besides, we traveled 300 miles to do it, and typically had only 3 days every Fall to fish, so we toughed it out for a few hours. When the rain finally started penetrating even our rain gear, we decided it was time to quit and try again in the evening. Even the hearty have limits.

After the deluge

As I mentioned, rain in moderate amounts is what we hope for. When we get those 100 year flood events like we did here in SE Wisconsin in 2008, well things fall apart. Flooding has becoming as common as wildfires lately, or maybe I’m just watching too much news. Hopefully we’ll get better at flood mitigation ahead of the curve. It doesn’t look like it’s going to go away soon. “You think that last flood was bad? Just wait 5 years or so.”

Fox River, Waukesha 2008

Given the state of our burning world, we should almost always look at rain as a positive. Right now, Canada, Scotland, Italy, Sicily, France, and Bolivia are all experiencing wildfires. A significant rainfall in all of those areas would certainly be welcome. Increasing droughts are exposing more and more areas to the threat of wildfire. Like I said, I’ll never look at rain as a bad thing again.

Rain sometimes inspires me as well. I’ve written a few poems about rain over the years. Here are a couple favorites.

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The Face of Rain* by Jim Landwehr

The rainstorm ruins a picnic in Wisconsin
Acts like a monsoon in Pakistan
Poses as a hurricane in New Orleans
Turns to snow in Minnesota
And ices into sleet in Kentucky
It’s part of the routine in Seattle
And beats the odds in Vegas
Is a no-show in Death Valley
And is captured and held hostage in Los Angeles

*Previously published in Tea in the Pacific Northwest.

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A Drop in the Bucket* by Jim Landwehr

The drop was part of a Great Flood
that lasted forty days
then percolated to an aquifer,
was drawn from a well,
stored in a jar and turned to wine.
It reappeared as an ice crystal
on the beard of
a Federal soldier
during the bitter winter
in Valley Forge.
Years later it showed up as a tear
on the cheek of Jaqueline Kennedy
in a church in 1963.
It evaporated and became part of a storm cloud
that rained into the Cuyahoga river
where it caught fire in Cleveland
and was extinguished
by fellow drops
then rolled over Niagara Falls
without a barrel.
After a trip to Europe
and a pint of Guiness
it snowed down
on top of Mount Everest.
Later the drop crossed the Pacific
and ended up in Dean Martin’s pool.
After a dip, it rode the Jet Stream as a cloud
West to Lake Superior
where it helped sink the Edmund Fitzgerald.

*Previously published in, Thoughts From A Line At The DMV.

I finished this newsletter during a break in the rain. More is forecast for the coming hours and all I can say is, “Welp, we sure needed this rain.”

Do we ever.