Yesterday, we were outside playing a round of badminton which has become our family gaming choice this summer. The air was heavy. You could feel the air just sitting on your chest, almost making it hard to breathe.
Just when the youngest and I were about to make a big comeback from a 6-1 score, the skies opened up. The biggest raindrops I've ever seen began to drop and we were soaked to the skin in a matter of seconds.
We took shelter under the porch and found ourselves in good company. A gigantic bumblebee had been checking out the sunflowers and now hovered next to the stars and stripes bunting. A swallowtail butterfly was darting in and out trying to see if it was safe to emerge from the safety of the porch.
It rained, and rained, and rained. One of those rains where it feels like there just might be enough water in the sky to continue on for days upon days.
The boys got tired of hanging out on the porch and began to venture out from under the shelter. Without umbrellas or rain boots, they walked in the gutters pulling the clogs of pine needles up and releasing the flow of gushing water.
I thought about doing the same when I was a girl living in Oklahoma - rescuing earthworms washed into the street, making dams, splashing about.
I joined them.
We were out in it for about an hour. Walking and laughing and noticing.
The Earth had released the heat of the days built up tension. And so had I as we both exhaled and smiled at the sunshine that followed.