Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – June 14, 2004
A Damp, Sunny Morning
Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – June 14, 2004 – It rained last night – an awesome deluge. The kind of storm that makes a believer of you in spite of your atheistic tendencies. Someone’s gotta be in charge of this kind of energy. The lightening lit up the night with eerie, flicker flashes followed by brilliant, zig-zags that shredded the sky.
Thunder rolled across the city with spectacular, resounding crashes and the rain sliced into the earth – a torrential wall of water. The lane beside my house was alive with bubbling streams of rainwater winding their way down to the sewer grates on the street. I fell asleep as the last rumblings of the storm dissipated.
I awakened to sunshine outside my window and immediately felt a sense of gratitude for my beautiful home and my blessed life. I have a busy day today so I fed Ziggy the Miserable, and Augie and I headed out for our morning walk. The earth was warm and damp from last night’s storm and the air was clean and fresh. As I walked down the lane I could feel the sun on my back and it was a soothing, delicious warmth that made scrunch up my shoulders and then relax them.
For a Monday morning it was surprisingly quiet, and we traipsed around a couple of city blocks, with Augie checking out every blade of wet grass as we went. Droplets of rainwater coated the leaves of tree and plants and birds chirped and cheeped at each other.
A couple of black squirrels were in mad pursuit of a red one and even though he was smaller, the red one was more agile, and he soon left the bigger ones looking around the base of the tree wondering how Mr. Red had disappeared. He was sitting on a hydro line looking down at them. I swear I saw him chuckle.
I wished I could have walked for an hour this morning. It was a beautiful start to the day and Augie was in fine form, his silly grin firmly in place. He’s almost finished his medication now and I know he’s better because he and Ziggy are back to playing goofy dog and cat games with each other.
Back home, I fed Augie and then made myself a cup of coffee and sat in my pergola to drink it. I thought about my good health, my friends and family, my loyal clients and my lovely, safe home. My troubles are small in nature compared to those of many people throughout the world, although I’m now smart enough to recognize that everything is relative to the people involved.
I don’t take my concerns lightly or negate their significance in my life, but overall I’m doing just fine. On a clear, sunny morning like this one I recognize God’s handiwork in my life and I’m grateful to the Universe and my place in it.
