AFTER THE STORM

It had been a dreary, rainy day and I was puttering around the house getting chores done.

As I was passing my dining room window I noticed the western sky had turned much darker. “Oh boy! I think a storms coming!” I called.

My husband Steven came into the room. “I was just coming to tell you. I was checking the weather channel and there’s supposed to be a thunderstorm in about twenty minutes.”

I smiled and rubbed my hands together. “Thunderstorm season is here!” I cried.

I looked over at the clock. “Well, it’s way too early to pour a glass of wine and sit on the back porch.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But there will be plenty of storms coming up for that.”

Instead I finished cleaning the kitchen and waited for the first crack of thunder to come. It wasn’t long before I heard the first rumble way off in the distance.

I wiped my hands on the dishtowel and headed for the back door. The rain was coming down harder as I stepped out on the porch making sure I stayed closer to the house, well under the porch roof. I watched a chubby squirrel race through the leaf covered woods, that was part of our backyard, headed for a drier place to wait out the storm.

Steven stepped outside and stood next to me. I slowly inhaled. “Don’t you just love the smell of a spring rain?”

Steven nodded. “It does smell good.”

After several minutes of heavy rain the western sky began to brighten and the rain was slowly letting up.

I looked over at Steven, slightly disappointed. “Well, that was quick.”

The rain had now completely stopped and seconds later the sun came out. All the raindrops that were still hanging from the trees began to sparkle.

I looked over to Steven. “Look how pretty everything looks.” I pointed to all of our bunches of daffodils scattered throughout the woods. “I can’t believe all the bulbs I planted have come up!”

Steven looked over at me with a surprised look on his face. “All the bulbs you planted?”

I was confused. “We bought over one hundred blubs last fall. Don’t you remember?”

Steven laughed. “Oh, I remember.” He was nodding his head. “But it seems you’ve forgotten that I was the one who dug all the holes for you to plant them in.”
“Oh yeah.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry about that.” I waved my hand back out to the yard. “I can’t believe all the bulbs WE planted have come up.”

“That’s better.”

We watched as the bird feeders began to fill with birds all chirping and wing flapping to get to the best spots on the feeders. A robin was at the edge of the birdbath getting ready to take a swim.

“I love this time of year.” I sighed. “Everything’s coming back to life.”

We watched as a squirrel shimmied up the bird feeder’s Shepard’s hook, reached over to the feeder, grabbed hold on one of the bird perches and swung over hanging upside down and began doing stomach crunches to reach the birdseed.

Steven looked over at me. He saw the disgusted looked on my face and began to laugh. “Yup, everything is coming back to life.”

I shook my head. Watching as the squirrel emptied out the feeder. “I’m sorry to say they’ve never left.”