Still Thinking About This House That Is Emptying Slowly

As I write this, a nasty storm is rolling through Fort Worth.  I am not a meteorologist or anything, but I do notice that storms are nastier in this part of the world than in other places.  In Lexington - which, don't get me wrong, has nasty storms as well as tornados & such - it seemed like it could rain all day & it would just be rain.  No thunder, no lightning, just endless rain.  That hardly ever happens here.

Another thing to note: it usually doesn't rain during the day here.  It happens at night, like now, where there's always a chance the power will go out.  I type frantically in anticipation of that event.

This is a dumb thing I remember about rain in West Virginia, where, like in Lexington, it didn't seem to storm much.  I told a friend that the rain was more beautiful unaccompanied by lighting & thunder, that it seemed more "poetic."  She made fun of me for weeks after that, she'd ask, "How is your poetic rain?"  I deserved that.

My little dog Winston hates the thunder, & needs to be cuddled while it's storming.  He gets nervous & shivers & for some reason wants to go outside, to panic in the rain.  Like he thinks the thunder is coming from inside the house.  It's a shame he feels this way, & it's something he's picked up in his later years, possibly since we've returned here.  I don't know if it storms like this in Portland.

Speaking of: two weeks from tonight, I will be sleeping in a hotel room & not in this house.  We moved in here at the end of the year 2016, so we only lived here for two years or so, but I have loved this place like no other home I've had.  I don't know why that is - I haven't been crazy about the town, or the sad lack of opportunities for Self Help Radio, or the perpetual months of heat, but I've loved this house, this little room where I've made the show, the kitchen where I cooked, the backyard where the dogs played.  I know a home is just a place & you find your home where the things & people you love are, & I trust my wife to find another place in Portland for us, but that doesn't make it any easier knowing we'll be saying goodbye to this place soon.

Now I need to see if the dogs will brave the rain before they go to bed for the night!  Rain is something else we'll have to get used to, too.