But here it comes again

Right now Mother Nature is displaying my favorite kind of weather: rain. And it’s not that yucky cold rain that makes everything look miserable – it’s of the nice spring variety; my favorite. It’s the kind that makes me want to sit out on the porch for hours on end. Or, at least, until it stops comin’ down.

I don’t know why, but I love the rain. It’s just something new and different after a couple of dry days. Right now I am experiencing a strong urge to tie on my bathing suit and frolic around in the falling wetness. After this long week that seems like the perfect thing to do, but I’ll never do it. Not by myself, at least. I’ll wait until I have a certain someone to frolic with.

Rain rain… go away…

It happened a few years ago. What happened? I found out what my favorite song in the entire world is. My mother and I were in our Hyundai Sonata heading for camp. I wanted to listen to Breaking Benjamin’s CD We Are Not Alone that my brother left in the car, but my mother did not. I ran through the tracks, each one beginning with a sound that was too hardcore for my mother to handle. Finally, I settled for track number eleven; the last song on the CD. All we heard was the strumming of an acoustic guitar, and instantly, I fell in love. Breaking Benjamin’s “Rain” is my most favorite song.

Take the photograph,
It’ll be the last,
Not a dollar or a crowd could ever keep me here,

I don’t have a past
I just have a chance,
Not a family or honest plea remains to say,

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

Is it you I want,
Or just the notion of
a heart to wrap around so I can find my way around

Safe to say from here,
You’re getting closer now,
We are never sad cause we are not allowed to be

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

To lie here under you,
Is all that I could ever do,
To lie here under you is all,
To lie here under you is all that i could ever do,
To lie here under you is all,

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

Oh, how it gives me chills.

Visiting the bro

For the past two summers, my eldest brother has been writing for The Chautauquan Daily newspaper that is distributed by little paper boys all across The Chautauqua Institution. Other than the snobby, old rich people, I actually would not mind living there.

Last summer we visited him at his job and went on a walk all around one side of the Institution. The sky started dropping raindrops (of course), but we kept going, letting our two dogs pull us along by their leashes. Despite the horrible weather, I found every aspect of the Institution absolutely gorgeous.

This year we visited again, walking along on the red brick and gazing in awe at some of the beautiful old homes. Again, it started raining while we were there. At first I braved the rain, letting the hood of my hoodie soak up the wetness, but then it became too much for me to handle. My dad gave me the umbrella he had been holding for me, and I put it up, instantly relieved by the dryness. Everywhere we looked, there were pretty houses and beautiful mansions. We passed a few houses that were erected this past winter of ‘08; houses that didn’t even exist when we visited last year.

The snobby people that live there ignored us, so we ignored them. We walked and walked and walked, looking left and right at the architecture. We passed the Opera house and visited the Rain Garden outside of the theater building. We visited the Amphitheater again and listened to the Chautauqua Choir for a little while. I still find the Amphitheater amazing.

If I lived in the Institution, I would want to own a small cottage near the lake, overlooking the water. I would walk and ride my bike everywhere, and would go to the Amphitheater daily. Maybe I would try going to the Opera, but I would probably end up covering my ears and running out.

Our visits there have been pleasant – despite the heavy rainfall. Hopefully some Sunday we will go there WITHOUT rain following behind us.

Early Morning Fear

This morning I was rudely awakened by a huge crackling of thunder. My heart’s beat instantly sped up, and I could not seem to calm myself down. I glanced over at my clock, and the angry red digits told me that it was 4:42 in the morning. Do not get me wrong, I LOVE thunderstorms, just not the kind where the thunder sounds like it could come into my room and possibly kill me. You know, that horrible kind where it sounds like a huge piece of glass is shattering into a million little pieces.

The first thing I did was pull the covers up over my head in an attempt to drown out the awful noise. This, however, did not help in the least. After an ear-splitting eruption of thunder, I quickly got up and shut my window and the blinds before the lightning warned me of the thunder’s arrival once again. Every time the lightning flashed, I would hurriedly place my hands over my ears so that I would not let the thunder scare me like it did the first time.

Horror movies I have seen invaded my thoughts, and I found that I could no longer be calm without a light on. Every time the lightning flashed, I was sure someone would be standing over me, knife in hand. After another crackling of thunder, I quickly reached up and pushed the switch in on the lamp on my bedside table. The warm, soft yellow light instantly calmed me. This, however, did not stop the horrid thunder from scaring the bajeebers out of me every time it went off.

Finally, a solution to my problem came to me. I quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed my earbuds out of the open pocket on my purse. I then took my iPod (named Pandora) off of her home and connected the earbuds to her. I knew exactly what band was going to help me through in my time of need. I scrolled down to Panic At The Disco’s new album Pretty. Odd. and put the left earbud in my left ear. I then laid my head down so that my right ear was pressed into my pillow, blocking out any other sound that might wish to invade (the thunder). Every time the lightning flashed, I was ready to endure another crackling of thunder, Pandora by my side.

“I know it’s sad that I never gave a damn about the weather, and it never gave a damn about me.” As I listened to Do You Know What I’m Seeing? by Panic, I grew sort of nervous. Call me stupid, but I was wondering if the thunder could hear what I was listening to, and was insulted. I actually considered putting my iPod away, for fear that the lightning would enter my room and strike me. I quickly shook that thought away, for it was simply illogical.

Brendon Urie’s voice blocked out the thunder for me. I survived the early morning thunderstorm thanks to him.

Oxymorons

Today I decided to lay out in the sun for awhile. Not because I wanted to get super tan (I really do not see the point in changing the color of one’s skin, and I will never pay to go tanning), but because the sun was so appealing. I changed into my bathing suit, and approached the diving board, preparing to jump in just so the sun could have something to make evaporate.

I splashed into the cool, turquoise pool, and surfaced gasping for breath. It is not a good idea to swim with gum in your mouth, let me tell you. My feet touched the solid bottom of the shallow end, and I slowly walked over to the stairs. It is funny how you don’t feel just how cold the wind is until you are totally wet. I felt like someone was up in the sky purposely blowing cold air on me, attempting to dry me off. I lay down on the lounge, and closed my eyes, enjoying the gentle warmth of the sun. The wind continued to blow, but the sun continued to shine.

After my mother got off the phone (she was outside talking on it for almost three hours), she went inside, and then all was quiet except for the raging wind. I got up to lean the back of the lounge back further so I could lay down on my stomach, exposing my back to the relentless sun. While I was lying there, I was thinking about how it rained yesterday morning. At first it did not strike me – but then it did. A rainy Sunday. Why, that is an oxymoron!!! Now, every Sunday that it rains, I shall be thinking about that and smiling. I never really thought of it before.

I like that oxymoron, but my favorite will forever be: smart man.