Thursday, September 17, 2009

It's Raining, It's Pouring, the Old Man is Snoring .....


Remember that rhyme from childhood? How I laugh out loud when I hear it because of it's silliness. Our kids learned that rhyme when they were little and they loved saying it over and over again. It became a point of laughter for our family.

Years before our children were ever thought of, their mother and I commuted to work together everyday. We were dating at the time, then engaged, and our 40 minute commute to work resulted in lots of conversations about weather. Weather was a hot topic for us because, as teachers, we wondered how it would affect the school calendar.

We worked in New Kent County, Virginia, a small rural county that had a lot of shaded one-lane back roads and gravel roads. Most roads were unpaved and school buses could not drive down some of those roads when it rained heavily or snowed.

This week's weather - constant rain - reminded me of a little rhyme we used to say. "Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day." There were many days when we splashed in the mud at New Kent High School. The unpaved parking lot made it difficult to stay dry and spotless. I distinctly remember days when my shoes and socks were drenched, mud splattered on my pants, and I couldn't keep dry enough. Those were the days!

Silliness isn't limited to little rhymes about the weather. How many of us have danced in the rain with the one we loved? And how many times have we dashed out of a store to our car in the pouring down rain, wondering why we bothered to shop in such weather? Or how about those football games that were rained out on Friday nights? Ever march in a parade soaked to the bone because it rained the entire parade? Rain brings back so many memories.

Even though today is dark and dreary, I had to laugh at those wonderful old memories. How completely silly we were, but we sure did enjoy ourselves. I wonder what kinds of silly things you have done.

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