Rain

The rains have come. I think I can hear seeds germinating when I step outside early in the morning. This week was a school holiday for Independence Day. The quiet was invited to say the least. I share a wall with 10+ girls and they can be rambunctious at best. The night they found the drum I thought my sanity would be pounded out. I do love them though; it really feels like I’m back being an RA in college. The other day the boys at my school stole the girls’ underpants off the clothes line. Ah, pranks that transcend cultural barriers.
Before I started teaching about agriculture and tried my hand with plants, I always wondered what hindered them from growing. Why are my beans not coming up? What is wrong with the tomatoes? My perspective has flipped more to a sense of awe and wonder. The more I explain the finer points on nutrients in the soil, plant diseases, pests, water use the more I am amazed when that little bundle of sheer green joy pops it’s head out of our compacted red clay. Consistently I am impressed by the tenacity of the seed when so much could go wrong. It is a daily inspiration and I hope it remains so.
With the rain comes thunder and lightning storms. They do not cover the expanses that the sheet lightning of NE Montana does, but the force of the thunder rattles my teeth and soul. They're invigorating. Occasionally I'll catch my hair raising off my shoulders into a little halo, I remember it used to stand straight up in my high school welding class. I guess I'm just electrifiable (that's the new word for the day).