Silent Inundation

Buffalos Take Refuge On My Lawn--NOTE: the incredibly cute new object of my affections: 2-day old, 'Sen Lek'








Almost overnight our seemingly quite and uninterrupted (from the outside world, that is) neighborhood went from ‘business as usual’ to an abrupt standstill prompted by mounting floodwaters. As I stood on my stoop two days ago, a hundred feet or so from the rising waters, the memory of last year came back to me in a flash. Talk about déjà vu. I suddenly remembered like it was yesterday. Compared with my post, from October 2009 entitled: Weathering The Storm(s) , the current circumstances are an eerie reminder that nature can and does repeat the same phenomenon year after year. To us, as human beings, that often means misfortune and disasters.
Here’s a brief from the recent Bangkok Post article relating to the flooding situation in Thailand:

Bangkok Post : Flood Toll Rises to Seven
Heavy flooding in the Central and Northeast regions has claimed two more lives, in Lop Buri, raising the death toll from the most severe flooding in decades to seven this week.
For more visit: www.bangkokpost.com

Now I remember vividly the rainy season going out with a bang last year as it has this year. Over the past two weeks, it has rained almost non-stop. I bike in the rain, I walk in the rain, I do my laundry with rainwater, I play in the rain, I sleep a lot while it’s raining. Actually, I was beginning to think I was mildly depressed because of all this good sleeping weather—rain induced coolness, that is. Needless to say, I have been sleeping far more than necessary during the ‘rain days’ & nights.
It reminds me of Monterey, California, where I lived before I came here. Everything was always damp during the perpetual ‘sweatshirt weather’ that Monterey often boasts.

Then, I’m reminded of Iowa in the harvest of autumn when the air is crisp and cool. My dad would say it’s good sleeping weather. But to be honest, good sleeping weather with all it’s pleasantries, has been making me a bit... shall we say... lethargic, not to mention a bit discontented with myself. Call it timing, perhaps the 6 months-to-go-syndrome but these last 10 days or so I’ve felt very unmotivated while wallowing in self-pity. The blues of facing the unchartered future and how I’m going to make the most of the time I have left. It could just be a coincidence that the heavy rains happened to coincide with my state. And, furthermore, that the flooding occurred when I’d about had it with my brooding and was beginning to climb out of my proverbial well.

And now two days later, I see waters receding and hope returning to worried faces. I feel my faith reviving and my outlook of present and future is seemingly better. I guess my bout with the blues could have been exacerbated by cabin fever too. This last week, I’ve spent an unprecedented amount of time in my house. It’s also possible that the parade and all the over-exposure of being in the fishbowl or on display like a zoo animal (ie: being in the parade) made me retreat into my shell. Whatever the reason, I see good things on the horizon. While in my hermit state, I took to watching a lot of Mad Men—and if you’re a fan, you would agree this current season (4) is not the right thing for an already melancholy person to be watching. Talk about depressing! But, I do recall a quote in one of the more recent episode when someone says... “When I’m feeling down, I look at the calendar. There’s usually something good on the horizon.” Now that I’m feeling a bit better, I appreciate those words of encouragement and I realize there is truth to it. I’m heading to see some friends this weekend and relax. Next week, I look forward to a long-awaited, anticipated arrival of my folks to Thailand. All the while, I continue to anticipate the transfer of funds for the Daycare Flood Remediation and Water Systems Improvement Project from PC Washington so implementation can begin.

And so the beat goes on and on....