It's Raining, It's Pouring...........

 



Today is a rainy day in Tampa, Florida.

I have always loved rainy days.

Days to spend curled up with a good book, or watching a movie.

I love listening to the rain on the roof when I am laying in bed at night.

Not to mention that we could do with some rain at the moment.  It has been pretty dry and my flowers need the water.........we won't even talk about the lawn. 

Well, I should have said that "used" to love the rain.  I still have moments of loving it, but since about September of last year I have been viewing the rain, clouds, thunder and lightning through different eyes.........through Sam's eyes.

 

The weather had never really bothered Samuel that much.  Then all of a sudden it did.  Thunderstorms are pretty common during the summer in Florida, but it caught me by surprise one day, when during a particularly noisy storm I ended up.....well, I don't know if words can accurately describe the scene!!  Imagine Samuel wrapped around my neck as tightly as possible without actually making me pass out, insisting that we sit on my bed with Nick Jr. on as loud as humanly bearable and the covers over our head.  To top it off, the dog also appeared to have developed this fear over night and was trying to squash under the bed.  This was after I refused to let him on the bed.  Blue is a 100lb Golden Retriever.  There was no way I could have him sitting on me as well as Sam.

When I was little, my Mum would sing me all kinds of funny songs and nursery rhymes.  One of my favorites was

"It's raining, it's pouring,

the old man is snoring.

Bumped his head, and he went to bed,

And he couldn't get up in the mornin'.

Rain, rain, go away.  Come again some other day."

Several months ago I found a book by Peter, Paul and Mary

(for those who may not have a clue of who they are, they are a singing group from way back in the dark ages!!!)

Sometimes Sam and I will read the book and listen to the song that goes along with it.  In the book, all the children play a game of hide-and-seek to take their minds off the rain.

 

When I look at the stormy weather through Sam's eyes I don't necessarily understand why he is constantly asking me about everything imaginable about the different aspects of the storm, but it helps me not to get frustrated when I am asked the same questions over and over and over and over...........

Are there grey clouds?  Are there thunder clouds?  Is there lightning?  Is that thunder?  Is it going to be cloudy all day?  Is it going to thunder all day?  Is there going to be lightning all day?  Is the water going to come up? (Courtesy of the song, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man."  It goes, "The rain came down and the floods came up, the rain came down and the floods came up.....")

When you have answered the questions, they are then repeated back.

There are grey clouds?  There are thunder clouds?  There is lightning?  That is thunder?  It is going to be cloudy all day?  It is going to thunder all day?  It is going to lightning all day?

 

I may not understand why this worries Sam so much, but I understand that it scares him and sends him into a constant loop of worry.  I know that he comes to me for comfort and for answers.  I do not have all the answers, but I can love him.

 

As for Blue, the big yellow dog.........

he is still not allowed in the bed.

 Sally-Ann