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Photo Credit: Chinmayan
This morning I am feeling grateful to be sitting at my tiny desk in my tiny house next to an open tiny window as a powerful rain storm lashes the world outside.
I appreciate this warm, snug space as the furnace hums its comforting song and fierce winds rock this little house on its wheels.
After going through several wild fire seasons since 2015, with the very real threat of having a fire erupt near us and maybe having to suddenly evacuate and flee for our lives with just a few things…
With the very real possibility that this beautiful sanctuary that we’ve built with blood, sweat and tears over many many years and almost everything we own, including all my writings still in workbooks, could be burned up and lost to an uncontrollable wildfire…
and after living with the ongoing drought here in Northern California which led to our wells going dry and having to let our garden die from simple lack of water…I have a much greater appreciation for any rain that falls.
The heavy rain that’s pounding against the roof in a sweet wet symphony is a cause for celebration, which I will never complain about again as long as I live.
I revel in seeing puddles grow to the size of ponds and having to walk through squishy mud in the yard to do anything outside.
I am touched and delighted to feel the wet kisses of sweet raindrops hitting my upturned face.
I will tell you a secret…Last night, while the world slept and the storm raged on, I took a long hot prayer bath with the window open so that wind blown rain splashed into the tub as I lay back and enjoyed those sweet sacred moments….
And when I got up steaming from the very hot water, I ran outside naked, splashing through puddles with bare feet and danced myself to dizziness in the heart of the storm, alone and crazy in love with the wonder of the intense falling rain.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
It thrills me when we drive down the country highway that runs above our biggest reservoir and see it brim full after years of being so empty that one could walk far out the lake bed to a tiny little puddle of water in its lowest spot.
It inspires me to see whitewater rapids surging down our wild rivers that have been nearly dry for several summers and to see the creeks overflowing their banks.
I am reminded of something I heard from David Attenborough to the effect that “We were once a vital part of nature, but now we live apart from nature, cut off from the very source of life which has always sustained us.”
And Jane Goodall when she says “The greatest threat to our future are not the things that threaten our very existence, but our apathy towards them which lulls us into inaction.”
We have been told that in the west we are facing the worst drought in 1200 years, which may last 100 years…while most of us continue living as if we have all the water we need…and few conserve.
Yet wells are going dry everywhere as huge corporate farms pump vast amounts of water day and night from ever deeper wells.
In the Central Valley of California, the falling water table in the aquifer underneath is causing the land itself to drop by a foot every year.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
Here in our own high mountain valley, we had a large “farm” take over a big parcel of virgin land close to us, drill a deep well and start pumping huge amounts of water through gigantic sprinklers night and day just to water a small grove of fruit trees…which soon caused our much shallower hand dug culvert well to go dry for the first time in the hundred years since our place was built.
When I tried to talk with them about it and suggest that they switch to drip irrigation, as the much wiser way to water their saplings, they refused to listen and politely told me that it was their land, their well and the law says they can pump out as much water as they wish.
I was shown the gate and told to mind my own business.
To mitigate the situation, I did what many others have had to do. We invested a few thousand dollars we really didn’t have to spare to buy a new 3000 gallon poly water tank, and set it up next to our well.
Now, when we do have water, this back up tank is filled and kept full by the pump at the bottom of the well.
Then, when the well goes dry in the intense heat of hot summer days, we at least still have the water in the tank in reserve to draw from…and in the absolute worse case scenario, can pay for a water truck to bring water to us.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
I am aware of all this, which is why this morning I celebrate this storm and all the storms and atmospheric rivers that have been drenching us, this valley and most of the west so much this winter.
Of course, we do not know what the future holds for us, but I hope it is one of many more storms like this.
We all need water to live and all of the wildlife and trees and living things all around us need it too.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
I for one, will always be praying for more and more of this sweet rain… not just this winter but in all the winters to come.
But today, as the storm rages outside, I am very happy to put on my rain gear and rubber boots and go out and do whatever work that needs to be done in this wild and wet world!
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
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Celebrating These Days and Nights of Heavy Rain and Raging Storm