When It Rains

The month of September in Iowa came close to setting records, weather-wise. It went weeks without raining.

This, while a fairly common occurrence in, say, Arizona, is next to unheard-of in the Midwest.

I, desert rat that I am, prefer days that aren't rainy to ones that are, and the dry weather came at a particularly convenient time for me, being that my horse has been laid up with a gigantic leg-wound all month. To be able to get through the bandaging stage without sogginess and mud in the picture was a huge help.

But the weather is sort of the only thing that's been cooperating. I can't help but feel I've had my own personal little storm-cloud of metaphorical gloom hanging over my head for months now, and it makes me remember what I said to my sister after my wedding. We were talking about how great it was that I married Brian, and I said something along the lines of, "I can't help but feel a little precarious. Things have been going to so well. It's like I'm waltzing through my own private field of magical flowers. It just doesn't seem like this can last."

I was right. It didn't. While Brian and I are still happily immersed in marital bliss, lately we have been sharing our quarters with a nasty flu bug. The summer has been riddled with bad health news in our families as well.

It's funny, how one takes good health for granted. I have been sick the last few days in a way I haven't been sick in years, and I had completely forgotten what it is like. It makes basic tasks impossible. For instance, I went to the drug store to buy a thermometer, and in wandering the aisles trying to find the thermometer area, I found myself continually having to stop and think, "Now, what am I looking for again?" Like, five times. In just a few minutes. I eventually had to ask someone to show me where they were. It was alarming and humbling, to see how much what I consider my innate level of competence was so thoroughly impaired by simply running a fever.

So, here's to good health. I'll appreciate it more in the future, both in myself and in those I value.