Anybody up for a rain dance?

As my father would say of Spartanburg, South Carolina, if I called him up right now, it is most definitely "cotton pickin' dry" here in Atlanta. You may have heard about our drought. My father, an avid gardner, deals with such nemeses as droughts, bugs, sweltering heat, and sore muscles on a yearly basis, and it never fails that his yard is amazing. Situated low to the ground next to the flower bed, water hose in hand, he says of each clump of flowers, "This one needs a drink." Then he points the nozzle at the base of each clump of flowers and serves it a slow, satisfying trickle until he is sure that it is safe from the dry weather.

We moved into our first house - as in, one that we bought instead of rented - two months ago, and Josef and I planted pansies and daffodil bulbs. Our tulips bulbs are enjoying their form of an ice bath; that is, they are chilling out in our mini fridge until it's cold enough to plant them outside. Because of the drought, though, I am now forbidden to water my pansies. It's a very serious drought, compounded by the fact that Georgia is giving much of our lake water to Florida and Alabama. For now, I can wash piles of laundry and run our dishwasher, but I can't water the flowers. My mother assures me that they will spring back once cold weather sets in, along with winter rains, but it's so hard to see them struggle right now. Their faces, which are growing smaller to compensate for the lack of water, antagonize me with pleas for water each time I pass by them to and from the front door. I'm thinking about secretly watering them using bottled water that we have at our house. Or maybe littering the ground with ice cubes tonight.

Drought has further visited my family's lives, but in a figurative and sad way. We found out yesterday that our sister Amy lost the baby she was carrying. I see that as a drought because, despite everyone's best intentions, there just wasn't enough of some essential ingredient to enable this life to develop. The good news is that she already has two beautiful and healthy children. This most recent pregnancy was a surprise, as Amy and her husband, Jeremy, certainly hadn't planned it. According to my mother, Amy had just become excited about the baby, rather than anxious about having another baby in the house. Their children, Freeman and Lilly, are young at 1 and 4 years old. My thoughts and prayers are with her today. She had a miscarriage either my junior or senior year of college, before she had Lilly. It's sad to think of these two children she didn't have, especially when I think of them next to our niece and nephew. It's like there are little ghosts of them in my mind. I don't know if Amy and Jeremy will try again, given the shock of the surprise and then sadness at failure of the poor fetus to survive.

Other areas where I am or have recently experienced droughts/dry spells:

• Art. I think I've already mentioned my need to create. It's getting pretty bad at this point, so I had better finish cleaning my house (my obstacle to be able to paint) so I can do that!
• My friendships. I miss college so much in terms of how easy it was to hang out with people. It's so hard to make time to see everyone that I care about, so I've been on a phone call and email roll ever since the move and our vacation. Both moving and vacationing takes you a bit out of the loop with friends, so I'm really looking forward to upcoming parties and other events.
• Religiously speaking, I felt like I have been going through the motions of living my faith, but not actually participating at a satisfactory degree. Fortunately, we've started young adult women's small group at church, which is great for bonding with other women and deepening my faith. I grew up being quite immersed in church activities and gave it my all in prayers and reading The Bible. College (though wonderful), and life after college (which has also been wonderful), kind of took my energy out of pursuing my relationship with God and figuring out what I really believe. I know that what I believe about God has changed a bit since I went to college, but I really need to spend time solidifying how I express that belief. I feel like I have sort of pigeonholed God, even though that action is not exactly being true to who I feel I am. At this stage in my life, I don't feel like doing much studying. I'm more interested in conversation with others about what they believe and experience how my own beliefs differ or align with theirs. I am open for change, still, as I think that's the healthier way to experience faith (faith being different from morals and values in my book).

So what are life's lessons during times of drought (literal and figurative)?

• Be grateful for what I do have?
• Fight the urge to whine about not being able to water the flowers?
• Make better plans for the next go 'round?
• Store up everything I could possibly need, like water?
• Realize I can't go back in time to fix things that have now gone wrong?
• Rest assured that things have to get better at some point?
• Find small ways to grow and create when time is in short supply?
• Focus on the things that really matter - maybe keeping pansies alive isn't really that high a priority after all.

Maybe they are all lessons to which I should be paying close attention. I guess there are all kinds of dry spells we go through, but the most severe ones stay with us even after they're gone.

That was a pretty serious post, but I think I needed to get those thoughts out. I will definitely write again when I think of something funny to write about. I like to keep things even in my life, so I will strive to do the same with my blog!

Thanks for reading,

Susan