Rain and Verbal Punctuation

So, have you ever heard those people who, like, use all these little words to umm, kind of fill in all the little, like, cracks in their sentences? I HATE IT! >.<


Verbal punctuation makes me want to stab people. I'm just as guilty of it as lots of other people, but I can actually speak relatively fluidly, so I feel entitled to being annoyed. My usual culprits are "so," "anyways," "umm," "and," "yeah," and so on. It seems silly, because you aren't actually saying anything. Nothing is being contributed with those words and phrases. At best. At worst no one can focus on what you're saying because you can't actually say it without thousands of distracting breaks. It's like when people have some annoying, physical thing. Maybe that's just me.


And on an unrelated note (Isn't it always?), it's raining! I mentioned before that the city was on fire, but that's pretty much irrelevant now. It was basically taken care of a few days ago. I love rain like crazy, thought. And I'm not talking about the light shower, lets get and umbrella and puddle jump rain. I mean the run for cover, say goodbye to your gardens rain. Full lightning storms that beat against your house and terrify your pets (Mine anyway. The dog is afraid of thunder.).


I woke up to one of those yesterday afternoon. I was in a really terrible mood that day. Low on sleep, and yet another job lead had essentially fallen through, and I was really just sick of life and hideously depressed and angry at everyone. I've had a few of those days in the last few months. It's an unavoidable side-effect of being nowhere near where you want to be in life. But not long after I'd slipped into an exhausted doze, there was this huge CRACK of thunder and the rain arrived.


We've had a few light sprinkles in the last week or so, but yesterday it was more or less torrential. I stared out at my backyard and watched the trees bend submissively under the force of the rain and wind, and I could see everything coming back to life. This is part of what I love about rain. It's been really hot and dry recently (Go figure. It's Colorado in July.), and everything in my yard just looks thirsty, so when the moisture hits it, everything lights up, and the grey of the sky just makes it look more vibrant. All the trees and grass in my neighborhood looked full. Glutted with the storm.


But as I was watching the rain, my afternoon tantrum was still on my mind, and my first real thought was that no dry spell can last forever. The rain always comes eventually. Sometimes you just have to wait for it awhile and survive the heat as best you can. It was one of the more comforting and optimistic thoughts I had that afternoon, so I thought I'd share it here. I know I'm the only one in the midst of a drought. 


Be patient, guys. The rain will come.