Let It Rain

You wake-up to rain, you go about your day in the rain, and you lay down to sleep to the continuing sound of rain. Then you wake-up for the next three days and do it all over again.

I had such big plans for Good Friday. I was of course grocery shopping for our family dinner that was planned for Saturday. But I was also, planning a trip to Lowes to buy some spring flowers for all of my front porch planters, and maybe some new hanging ferns as well.

Everybody wants their lawns and home looking nice and spiffed-up for Easter weekend. My son and his business partner worked their selves like dogs last week trying to fertilize, lay straw beds, and manicure lawns for the big holiday and all the out of town company it was sure to bring in.

Their labored-doggedness continued into Saturday morning, through the pouring rain at times, all in the name of customer service and pleasing folk.

This was the first year I can remember in a very long time, that my own lawn and home was not Easter ready; but sometimes that’s just the way it works out.

We did however have my folks down for a visit, had our version of Easter dinner on Saturday, along with Zach and Hannah, myself and my husband. I fixed a huge pot roast with new potatoes and carrots, baby lima beans, fresh turnips and rolls. And of course, a family favorite – Dirt Pie for dessert.

The day was filled with lots of story-telling and laughter as my parents had not yet had the pleasure of meeting Hannah, but by the end of the day, everybody was smiling and laughing, and no one would have ever known that hours prior – they were meeting as strangers.

And today, Easter Sunday, the rain continues. The grass appears to have advanced three shades of green in the last 72 some odd hours, the jasmine around my front yard swing is popping with the beginning of blooms, and my pink fringe bushes have left literal bloom-drippings draped all over the ground below them.

The new leaves and limbs on my Drake Elms look as though they are hanging by a thread, totally drenched with water, and in desperate need of some sunlight, although they too, have grown in leaps and bounds.

The leaves on my Knock Out rose bushes are blush-red and beginning to extend into what are always the biggest and prettiest blooms.

But my porch still looks incredibly dreary, with no color or signs of life in sight. My macho ferns, the only ferns to make it through the winter this year, are still standing tall and majestic in their huge black planter urns, but even they look incredibly lonely with none of their flower-rooted-friends to flank their sides.

I’m hoping there are some sunny days ahead.  I’m ready to load-up my truck with marigolds, petunia’s and anything that brings beautiful splashes of color to the eyes.  I’m ready for my yard to come alive with flowers, birds and butterflies. I’m finally ready for spring. 


copyright 2016 Michelle Mount Mims
Also previously published @ The Havana Herald