My Own Rainfall History - So, after getting to listen to a brief spate of rain last night, I started wondering about rainfall in all the places I've lived over the years. Looking up rainfall history on the internet is slightly more difficult that I thought it would be. One of the problems is that there's a "water year" versus a calendar year. The water year is from July 1 through June 30. When possible, I got the totals for the calendar years, but there are some notes below about the water years.



Way back in my hometown growing up, there was an average rainfall of 37.5" per yer. My youth wasn't much different, averaging 38.06" per year. The wettest year (48.34") was when I was only 4 or 5 years old, so I certainly don't remember any very wet years. And the "big blizzard of '78" that I remember, didn't really show up in the percipitation numbers.

Back in college, that town only averages 15.5" per year. There were two extremely dry years in a row: 1989 only 5.82" inches of rain fell, and then 1990 even less with only 5.52" that year. My yearly average never went over 23", but I averaged only 15.84" per year the entire time I lived there.

In my old shire, they average 15.4" rainfall yearly, and I averaged 18.19" per year. We had a one-month spike in Jan '95 of 16.08" and another one in Feb '98 at 18.91"—each of those was a year's worth of rain in only one month! 1995 come in for a total of 31.37" and 1998 at 31.17" but otherwise I saw alternating wet and dry years, and the lowest was only 8.88" in a year (1999).

Where I live nowadays, it averages 14" per year. We had the 2nd wettest water year in recorded hisory in '04-05 at 37.25" (although it doesn't show the spike well in calendar years) and the driest in all recorded history this water year '06-07 at 2.10" total. In my years here, I've seen 11.6" on average.

Sometimes I think I'd be happier up the coast in Portland, OR or Seattle WA. But then I think of all I have here in SoCal, and I just endure the dry weather with which I'm blessed.

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Some closing somber thoughts - Friends of friends went through a loss this week. I wasn't really close with the lady who passed away suddenly, but knowing that some of my friends are grieving has gotten me thinking again.

I still don't have a will written, because I don't have a spouse or kids. So it's just me in the world -- although that's not completely true because I have dozens (possibly hundreds?) of amazing and wonderful friends and family. I'm even one of those people blessed with blood family that I enjoy being with, in addition to chosen "family" of my closest friends.

I sometimes wonder "what would happen if I were suddenly gone?" A plane could hit my apartment on approach (I'm right in the flight path). Or a car could hit me and I could be gone in an instant (I certainly drive enough). Or something completely unknown medically could strike without warning. I worry a little bit that I have my affairs in order. I worry about whether I've hugged people enough recently, said "I love you," or visited and chatted over tea. It's one of the main reasons I *do* spend so much time looking for ways to go have dinner or visit with friends. I feel bad sometimes that I don't spend enough time with my (blood) family. I worry about all the volunteering I take on, and would it be easy for someone to pick up where I left off. I worry about my former step kids, and did I empart as much as I could.

It's quite a balancing act to live both as if today were the very last day of life, and as if you will live forever and be able to accomplish anything. This is my favorite approach to life. I can dream anything and pursue everything. I can always do one more thing. And today's the last day that matters, so make today matter right now. Listen more than respond. Care and do something about it. Learn someone's name. Ask their name again when you've forgotten it. Make sure people know they matter.

Someone asked me once, "What would you want people to say about you at your funeral?" And I responded that I'd like to hear someone say, "She made me feel welcome. She made me feel like I matter. When I was with her, I *belonged* and I wasn't an outsider." That's what I want to make happen in the world. It's tough, but it's worth pursuing.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Life.