Where is the rain?

It is 9:39 at night and 96 degrees with 26% humidity. This may not seem like a high humidity rate to some but for us it is up there. This is the desert, very dry. My daughter Emma was 3 years old before she saw her first rain showers. I took her out in it and she was not sure what to make of it, the brothers knew to enjoy it while it lasted.

It hasn't always been like that here. When I was a child we would get rain every 4th of July. Not enough to spoil the fireworks just enough to make us worry it might not let up before nightfall. By the time it was dark enough for fireworks to be lit off the rain would be gone. The humidity levels would make the smoke hang lower in the valley.

By August the monsoons would come in. I loved the monsoons, still do when we get them. The thunder and the lightening can be amazing. The rain would flood some areas but those of us and our parents that had been here long enough knew to stay out of the streets and not to drive in it. All the kids in my neighborhood would run out to play in the rain. Our parents would warn us to stay out of the middle of the street in case a manhole cover was moved by the flooding. We were told we could be sucked down one and be killed.

Some storms would bring a power outage, these were the best times( well for us kids at least). We would open all the doors and windows until the rain had stopped. Then all the neighbors and kids would get together in one yard with lawn chairs and chat and have a good time. Meals were generally cold leftovers, very few houses had gas stoves. Should the power remain out until night we would all sleep outside on our lawn chairs. We would talk quietly and watch the lightening still going on in Arizona, yes you could see it from this far away. Soon the kids would fall asleep. Sometime around 4:00 A.M. our parents would wake us to go inside, the house was cool enough now and the power may be on. We would all complain wanting to stay out and chat and play. Looking back now I realize our parents had stayed awake all night and kept watch over us, usually our mothers our dads having gone inside to sleep in the hot muggy houses.

I am hoping soon my kids will get to experience the monsoons we had when I was a child. We have been in drought conditions for so many years now it seems we may never see them again. When we do get the rains in August they are not quite the same and people inevitably end up getting their cars stuck in the flooded areas. So many people move here every year from all over the country, they don't realize in the desert when it rains quickly we flood. Fast moving water going wherever it can towards the washes and then to the lake.

It is cloudy out now but I know there is no rain tonight. The air does not have that energy or smell. Soon I hope.