Summer Solstice 2022--Storms and Finding Strength

             This week it rained, and not just a sprinkle, but it poured a solid half inch in fifteen minutes!  And the wind did not blow, and it was a clean, cool rain—like a gift from nature.  This week it also snowed in the mountains!  Three inches or more piled up for a morning in many places.  Again, another solstice gift from nature.
               I know that the heat and drought and searing winds will return, but for just a brief moment, I’m relishing this interstice.  It’s been a long, long time since a classic summer shower has fallen on our little plot of garden and trees here in the city near the mountains.  Maybe I’m selfish, but I find myself wishing it would happen again soon.
               Regarding the rest of the world, well, it’s been said that if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.  I’ll only say that I think of all the young women and men who have been my students over the years, and I wish them strength in tackling the challenges of change.  May they truly begin the battle to regain lost rights for women’s health, regain a thoughtful and balanced government, and find a way to finally start the reversal of climate change.  ‘
               Our time here on earth is short, and the future is so very long.  But we can all leave behind our own tiny ripple of change, and someday those ripples might join and form a wave, and future generations will thank us for never giving up. 
               There is still enough wild nature from which to draw strength.  I hope everyone can find some of this strength to carry them through the storms on the near horizons.