Rainy season

I have never lived in a climate that had a 'rainy season.' On the East Coast, there are summer rainstorms, winter rainstorms, and occasional snowstorms or hurricanes. In Southern Spain, apparently this is how it goes: April-August, no rain. October-February, rain almost every day. I guess September and March can go either way, depending on the year. And the rain makes it colder too! We were enjoying our late summer that stretched into October, just a little warmer and milder than what we got used to in North Carolina. We kept the windows open, played outside in the afternoons, spent Saturdays walking around the local towns. Then bam! Last week the rain started and this week the temperature dropped into the 60's, and now we have to keep the heat on in the house. Apparently the rainy season also creates lots of mold issues, so now we have to pull all our furniture a few inches off the wall and start doing mold inspections on a regular basis. That will be interesting.

One good thing about living on this side of the Atlantic Ocean is that we don't get hurricanes! As Hurricane Sandy/ Frankenstorm slammed our families in PA and Delaware yesterday, all was quiet and still here. I actually took advantage of the 1 sunny afternoon this week to deflate and put away all our summer backyard toys like the pool and slip and slide. Just 2 weeks ago, we were all running around in bathing suits enjoying sunshine every day! After digging out our winter coats on a cold Monday morning, I was finally ready to admit that summer is over. It is strange to be so far removed, when the entire East Coast and almost everyone I know is going through the same storm. Yet here we are, almost completely unaffected except for the interruption of mail delivery and some people's travel plans.

One bad thing about living on this side of the Atlantic is that I have been conditioned to think 'hurricane' every time I see palm trees blowing in a rainstorm. Unfortunately, that happens almost every day now! And this morning, we had several inches of rain in our courtyard area, and the winds were blowing all kinds of leaves, small objects, and debris around. Just a typical rainy day, apparently. Unfortunately, I also seem to suffer a small amount of post-traumatic stress from last summer, when I gave birth in a hospital during the worst hurricane of the season, and spent the 1st night of Alex's life huddled in a dark hospital hallway waiting out a tornado threat. As I read about everyone's hurricane prep and sheltering strategies this past week, I was reminded vividly of doing hurricane prep with my Mom, moving lawn furniture while I was in labor, trying to decide whether or not we should evacuate, and how stressful and frightening it was to go through all that during a deployment! But we made it through, with help from my Mom and Dad, and the bay came home from the hospital happy and healthy, completely oblivious to the storm he had just weathered.                          -------------------------->
I am SO glad not to be in that situation this year: Not pregnant, my family all living here together, and apparently no danger of hurricanes. But for those who are dealing with any or all of those situations, my prayers have been going to you all week, and I hope that families, friends, and neighbors along the East Coast will all look out for each other and help each other during the next few days of clean-up and recovery.