We're all waiting for rain here. Today's possible rain has moved forward to this evening. We've had humidity, damp looking skies and fog. The topic of conversation is our desperate need for rain and the anticipation. Do we water our plants? Is there a storm coming and we should prepare? Should we cancel an outing or go to the movie another time? Uncertainty, thy name is weather.
There are plenty of reasons to obsess about weather, but sometimes I think it is a code. Our general or specific anxiety gets wrapped up in a digestible wrapper of weather. Then we can speak our minds, our worries couched in an acceptable topic. Uncertainty is the basis of our lives, but we seldom get comfortable with it. Randomness is scary to us generally. We want events to have a purpose, and we want to blame our actions or others for events that are unpleasant. With weather as the topic, we can criticize global warming, fossil fuels, whatever we feel makes the event make sense. I'm not saying these are not contributing factors, and we should be working to eleviate them, but let's face it, the weather is unpredictable and cyclical. Our drought here is part of living in a mediterranean climate. I've seen us hysterical before. We live in a dry climate. But we want it to have the gardens of Ireland. No can do.
We also want to know what's ahead for us. Well, on that front, old age, illness and death are definitely predictable. But we don't mean that. We don't want to prepare for such "far off" things. We want to know about our children's and grandchildren's futures, how our investments will fare, whether we will sing well at the wedding or have people to talk to at the party we're attending. No one can predict our little or big future, except that surprise and unexpectedness will play a major part.
So let's talk of the coming rain or not, it will happen or it won't.
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