Viva La Vida: Weather Happens Outside

I sat, all folded up on the floor, while the weather did its thing today. That happens everywhere you go. Today was not like any other day here, but it isn't what I am used to. March means that awkward Missouri transition from winter to spring. Monday is 70 and sunny and Tuesday is 30 and gray. Though not as drastic temperature changes, we get the random weather surprises within 24 hours. 

I sit here, peeling from sunburn, in a T-shirt and shorts. I could contemplate getting a sweater, but there isn't really a need, especially if I go outside where the sun, which hangs right over your shoulder, uses this height of the mountains to beat down with a livening strength and works its magic to warm up all things having the slightest shiver. That is one of the best feelings in the world, going into that sun that seems to beam life into you. And it makes the sky bluer and the grass greener than anywhere I have ever been. 

Within moments, thunder grumbles from the distance. The sky splits in half, with light waging its war against the quickly oncoming darkness. The clouds are mighty warriors--ominous and dark and rolling in fast. Light hides while the rain pours. It is a rain that falls when a cloud seems to have been ripped at its seams, letting go of all that it contained. That rain seems to pound the house into the ever-thickening mud. Then it hails. I sit in my shorts and watch it hail, trying to take in the sound and make out the mountain that seems to have disappeared behind the ice. 

This all lasts for 10 minutes, and I grab a sweater because, although light might have won the overall battle and reappeared, the darkness left its presence in the atmosphere with a drop of the temperature. And so I love the mountain weather--something that always leaves you refreshed--and wear every type of clothing possible in the span of one day. 

Two more things: we ate alpaca last night (I am sticking to the fact they are too cute and fuzzy to eat--the taste and chewiness weren't my favorite) and Feliz Cumpleanos, Annie!