Temperature Rising, Water Falling

I’ve been under the weather.... Literally and Figuratively.

Literally - I have the “epizooties”.

I was in bed feeling like I had been run over by a truck, a really big truck. My mind felt like I was trying to trudge through muck. Reading was almost impossible. I found myself repeating the same paragraph two, sometimes three times. I rarely watch television, but I had turned it on to try to keep myself from thinking about being sick. It is easy for me to become depressed when I am ill. I’ve spent too many hours of my life confined to beds waiting for my body to heal. I have learned that depression makes the healing slower so I try to surround myself with things to see and listen. A black and white movie was slowly playing out on the screen.

I can’t remember the name of the movie, much to my chagrin. But when one of the main characters is advised to go to the doctor he answers, “I’m not going to go there and get the “epizooties”.

EPIZOOTIES .............. Oh my heart! My father used to use that word when he got sick. He is the only person that I have ever heard use it. When I was a child I believed that he created the word. The black and white movie on my television was from his era. Did he pick up the word from the movie? I’ll never know the answer to that question, but hearing the word come from a movie that he would have watched in his young manhood was like being given a gift. I could hear my father’s voice saying, “It’s ok sweetheart, it’s only the ’epizooties'.” And then he would smile that sweet smile and wink like he and I shared a secret about getting well.

Figuratively - It has rained this whole week.

I have written about our large back yard and the forest of trees that forms our fence. It is a very unusual back yard for a Southern California back yard. My bedroom has large windows that look out on the yard. It’s a lovely view in the Spring and Summer when the birds are singing and flying from branch to branch.

I was sitting at the window watching the wind bend the limbs of the trees and blow the leaves across the grass. I was feeling hemmed in and restless. I had the epizootie blues. All of a sudden the clouds got very dark and the heavens opened up withgreat roars of thunder and lightening. I decided to imagine that the display was for my sole entertainment. And then the rains started coming down. Heavy rains! Rain like we don?t usually get here in the land of eternal sunshine. Heavy, pounding, flooding water was falling so fast and furious that I could barely see the trees that I love so much. I watched enthralled. I love the rain. And then something lovely happened. The rain was falling so hard and fast that it started pouring off of the roof in a wide, heavy steam. A continuous rush of water fell in front of both of my windows. I was behind a waterfall! The water was powerful and fast. It made a roaring noise as it raced for the ground and flooded my flower bed. It did some real damage to the yard, BUT for just a wee bit it was like a fairytale. I lived behind a waterfall even though I was under the weather.