Well, That Was Fun

Nothing like walking home from school in a monsoon. With two boys, a 3-year-old girl in a stroller and a hyper puppy. I misjudged how quickly the storm was rolling in when I put the leash on the dog and strapped Boo into her stroller this afternoon, preparing to walk up to the school and meet the boys. It became distressingly apparent by about the time I had walked far enough that I did not have time to go back home for the car that the storm was coming in much, much faster than it had seemed a mere five minutes before.

By the time I got up to the school, the sky was black, dark and rumbling with the first large drops threatening. I waved to the boys, handed the leash to Michael and said, “Run home, guys!” We got across the street at the light and began running as the bottom let out of the sky and buckets of water gushed over us. We were drenched in under sixty seconds. Drenched. Boo was laughing, the boys were laughing, Roscoe was beside himself trying to pull Michael home. By the time we were at the bottom of the hill by our house, the lightning was closer than I felt comfortable with. I yanked Boo out of her metal stroller and told her to run up the hill. She did. That girl can book it. I followed as quickly as I could, dragging my lightning rod of a stroller behind me and limping on my very sore knee. I may not feel like I’m 38, but my knees feel like they’re about 55 some days. And booking it up that hill in the rain was…interesting. Good exercise.

So, we got into the house, the boys’ brand new shoes are soaked and in the dryer in the hopes they won’t develop that awful stink that sneakers seem to take on for the rest of their usable lives whenever they get this dripping wet, and we are all in dry clothes. Thankfully, nobody has any homework tonight, and we can sit and enjoy the rain from our dry house now, while the hyper dog runs around the house trying to dry himself off in that spazzy way that dogs tend to do when they get drenched.

On the other hand, the gooey butter cookies and milk I got for after the first day of school snack were a hit, and the kids all treated our little monsoon wade home like a grand adventure rather than a “mommy really messed up.” The boys seemed to have a great day at school today, too.

Ah, good times. We do need the rain, though.

There’s a reason that meteorology class I took in college didn’t become a career choice for me.