Rainy Days

Scattered showers are predicted for our state all of this week. I had already determined that I would spend the day at home as I had been out all of the day before and did not get home until after dark. A relaxed day was in order to balance things out.

Spending a day doing whatever one feels like doing is a luxury to me. Even in retirement there seems to always be something waiting to be done. Cleaning out drawers is one chore I put off as long as possible. That chore was now demanded as I needed to put a new package of computer paper in my desk drawer . It had been taking up space on my table for days. In that crowded drawer I found a letter written last summer asking me if I wanted a book returned. I had forgotten who I had given the book to so I had to get busy and write to my friend of around 75 years.

Later I saw some very old letters in a plastic zip lok bag. I had started to read them but had to lay them aside. Now was a good time to finish them. These were letters I had written to my husband in 1969. He was in Atlanta and I was in Maryland. I was busy trying to sell our home there so the children and I could join him in Atlanta. He was busy with his new job and also looking for a house to buy. The letters I had written to him were about that situation plus all of the things that we had been doing in his absence.

It had been a very rainy summer in Maryland where we lived near the Chesapeake Bay. We lived where there was a very high water table and I was having problems with water seeping in under our house. The sump pump was not working properly and my 13 year old son and I spent a lot of time bailing water out of that crawl space !! Not a good scenario when you are trying to sell a home. Trying to accomplish that, sell a house, keep two teens occupied and also keep my sanity made for a very busy time. I wrote to my husband almost every day that summer and he called home each night. Our calls were taken up with matters of house hunting so the family activities were recorded in those letters. He had saved all of those letters and now I am glad that he did.

Some of the incidents I recall, as my daughter and her friend baking a green cheese cake to celebrate Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. And who could forget spending a summer bailing water from under your house ! But a lot of fun things had been forgotten, like taking the children to various activities, a crab feast in the neighborhood and tipsy neighbors becoming a bit uninhibited !! Of course I had to write to my husband about that. We were not drinkers so it was a curious thing to see others out of character.

Along with the letters I found one I had written to my mother when I was away at college. It was my home made Mothers Day card to her. She had written on the outside "save and give back - some day". It was interesting to see after 65 years.

The balance of the day was spent reading family records that went back to the 1700's. These papers had been sent to me by my brother during his genealogy search. I was captivated by some of these papers which were recorded in historical publications. I was so engrossed in them that darkness crept in and when I looked at my watch three hours had passed. It was way past my usual dinner hour so I had to call it a day. And quite a day it was that I had spent in the distant past. Now it was time to come back to the present, but those thoughts will go with me into the future and the letters will no doubt be handed down to a future generation for a rainy day.