WHEN THE RAIN COMES . . .

It's been overcast, thundering and raining.  For the moment, the draught is over.

I took my dear friend to her doctor appointment today -- an appointment that must have worried me at a subconscious level because at 2:30 this morning I was out of bed and at the computer, researching.   The Internet is both a blessing and curse in this day and age.

The appointment went the way of all cancer appointments -- for every answer given more questions arise.  With cancer comes the waiting game – waiting for biopsy results, waiting for surgery to be scheduled, waiting for pathology reports.  After returning home, I found myself unable to concentrate on computer work or to tend to any of my daily chores.  Instead, I stood in my doorway a long while, watching the rain inundate flower beds in the front yard, and thought of tumors and surgery and lymph nodes and chemo and . . .

As soon as the rain stopped, I walked outside to breathe in its after-smell  -- of musty earth and worms and damp plant life that is like perfume to those of us who love to garden.  It’s a mood-altering drug, this smell of post-rain, and I want the scent of petrichor to linger.  It’s fresh smell jarred me into wakefulness, if even for a brief period.

As I walked down the driveway I almost stepped on a dark gray garter snake with long golden stripes down his back.  I believe I frightened him as much as he startled me and he quickly slithered under the Potentilla.  I immediately ran to get my camera.  He’s not a shy one, this little garter, and it didn’t take long for him to reemerge.  After we adjusted to each other’s God-given right to stand our ground on this earth, we sat down in peace with one another.  I got close enough but not so close as to make him uncomfortable.  Looking well fed and healthy, the little garter quietly posed for me as I snapped away. 

Perhaps he is the offspring of the dead one who still lies under my Lilac bush.   Be that or not, there’s no doubt my garden is his home.   I’ve seen this garter before and I’m happy to host him for every meal he requires.  Not quite the carnivore of the bull snake, I’m still hoping the little garter at least takes care of some of those destructive ground squirrels.  At a minimum, I know he’s flicking up nasty bugs.  Just as I stood back up to come into the house, I caught a hummingbird and a bee midflight.   It’s not often I get to snap three lovely creatures within a few minutes of each other.

I’m at the computer now, but I’m hardly doing productive work, writing in a garden blog when I should be job hunting, or reconciling deposits for the Foundation, or developing the roadmap for upcoming marrow registration drives.  But if I didn’t have the rain today, or the garden, or the garter snake or the blog, I’d probably just be sitting on my couch, thinking about cancer.  Or worse yet, doing more Internet research.  So I’ve had a welcome distraction from life’s worries this afternoon.  I’m ready to stop writing, to force myself to do worthwhile tasks, but as I look out my office window, I notice gray-white bloated clouds hovering low in the sky.  I think I’ll resign myself to the detour of the day, go to the front door, and breathe in the zesty smell of ozone that offers the promise of more rain to come.