Here Comes the Rain Again

Ahh, another Friday night. It's pouring rain and my children are so sleepy they can't even think about going to bed. Normally, such a combination might leave me feeling a little less than perky, but you just have to learn to bend your mood to tolerate the rainy season in Central Florida. Rain. Everyday. Maybe several times. People all across the state will get struck by lightning today, either because they were in the wrong place at the right time, or because they are stupid. Remarkably, it is often the former. On a very consistent basis, the charming (and really quite old) news anchors report on yet another lightning-strike victim, and how the victim was innocently standing in their bathroom, while lightning hit the tree two blocks away and traveled through the sewer pipe system until it shot up their shower head and into their brain. True story! Fascinating, right?

No. Not really.

I was struck by lightning today. Again, no, not really. At least, not the kind that comes down from the sky when two opposing electrons collide and form white, hot energy. I might like to think of myself as a vessel for white, hot energy, but sadly, I am not. I am, however, a very capable vessel for alcohol...but I digress...Anyway, today started off a little rough for me. As I have previously blogged, I recently paid a visit to my OB/GYN to see about the birth contol patch to help regulate my aging hormones (yah, yah...simmer down pre/post-menopausal friends). I began using said patch last week. It's kinda interesting, it looks like the Nicorette Patch. I suppose if I needed some street cred I could flash it like it was one, claiming that the Big Tobacco giants have such a hold on my soul that I need to slap sticky, medicine laced squares on my ass...But I don't smoke. I can think of more exciting ways to slowly kill myself...Like continuing to reproduce, for example. So, as result of the additional hormones, I was feeling a little cranky, a little hostile, some might say typical Kate behavior, but I knew it was heightened somewhat, even if that subtlety was lost to the casual observer. Then, after thinking all was lost and the day was a wash...KABLAAM! The lightning struck me. It wasn't anything anyone witnessed, I won't be on the news tonight, and I am certain no one noticed much in the way of neurological effects. Just the same, I am a girl reformed.

I often forget that the simple acts of others can have such a profound effect on me. I regularly overlook, ignore, or otherwise "pooh-pooh" any kind of contribution I can make to the betterment of someone else’s day. On the outside, I am really quite selfish. But in my core, I am not. I want to give. I want to contribute. I don't want to make fun of you because you are wearing those shoes with that dress. (But, really...They don't go at all. I am just trying to help...See! I care!). However, on a day like today, when I have been struck out-of-the-blue, I feel like anything is possible. Maybe I can be a little less vapid and a little more virtuous. Maybe I can give and not take. Maybe I can be focused and not frenzied..

But then you wouldn't like me as much...