Don't Drown

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"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."

-Charles Dudley Warner

We are due for quite a storm here in the Bay Area. It is supposed to be really rainy and windy, and the lower foothills might get a dusting of snow. That thought makes me smile a bit, because I would like to head back to the Sierra to try for a few more still life shots in the snow. We'll see. I have a lot going on this week. Even with my sore joints and various and usual aches, I enjoy weather, even if I am just staring out the window.

I have a Weather Channel weather indicator installed on the sidebar for this blog, and every once in a while I will hear a little lightning strike sound, which indicates that there is an update to the weather in my area. I was looking at the storm alert earlier today, and noticed it said something kind of strange... "Do not drive into flooded roadways, turn around, don't drown. "Don't Drown?" You have to actually remind folks not to drown? LOL. At first I kinda laughed... at my most dense, I knew enough not to drown if I didn't have to, but then I thought about how that same statement applies to life. "Don't Drown." Suddenly the thought wasn't as amusing to me, when I thought about all the times I let myself metaphorically drown... even when I knew the water level I was in was getting dangerously high.

Ever notice how often, mostly during awkward pauses in casual conversations, the weather will suddenly become a valid, hot topic of interest? Is talking about the weather the perfect "get out" for everyone, because it's something we all have in common, no matter who we are? How often do you feel yourself, thinking in terms of how the weather is affecting your life at any given moment? I mean in terms beyond the obvious. As an example, my year, 2007, has gotten off to a proper wintry start all around, but as the year has been progressing, I see the sun trying it's best to give me a little glimpse of life beyond the immediate cold. I live in the Bay Area, which means we have the added weather attraction of micro climates. Just because it's warm and breezy in Berkeley, doesn't mean it will be in Oakland, or Sausalito. Our weather can turn rather quickly. So can life.

I can remember moments... sometimes months... when I was most certainly drowning. Drowning in avoidance, drowning in my photography, drowning in sorrow, drowning in longing for someone I love, drowning in blogging,drowning inside myself, drowning life. Yeah... drowning in life in general, which almost always meant I would rather be drowning in whatever was filling my time, rather then what, or sometimes who was making me feel the weather. Sigh. Sometimes a good friend would see me metaphorically drowning, and throw me a lifeline. "Dummy," said my friend, " you're drowning, don't you have enough sense to come in from the water?" "No, it hadn't ocurred to me to not drown, but just for the sake of argument, how did you know I was drowning?" "I was paying attention to the indicators," said my friend.

We all have weather in common, don't we? Do we always notice it? Do we see it in others? Do we see it in ourselves? Shrug. Like life, the weather is what it is. We never really know about it, what the future has in store, how the micro climate might change, but we can give it our best guess, and if we do find ourselves on a rainy stretch of road we didn't see coming, we can make the decision to turn around, and not drown. Right? ;)

-OndineMonet