Rain, rain go away...

When I was somewhere around the age of 9 or 10, I was beyond excited about the idea of going to a water park in Little Rock called Wild River Country*. Most of my friends had been, but I hadn't. In my mind, it something close to what heaven would be like.

I'd heard about the "Wave Pool," which was supposed to be like a mini version of the ocean, except without the annoying salt water. There were also rides and slides of every shape and size that twisted and turned and splashed. And then, when you needed a break from all that fun, there was the Lazy River. All you had to do was grab a tube and float, but even on the Lazy River there were waterfalls that would pour out of a wall onto your tube. I desperately wanted to go to this magical water park.

When one of my friends asked if I wanted to spend the night at her house on a Friday night and then go with her and her family to Wild River Country on Saturday, I did not even hesitate to say yes, despite the fact that I was terrified to spend the night away from my house until I was much older. This was a special exception.

When I got to my friend's house after school on Friday, her mom let us drink cokes, which was rare because my friend never drank soft drinks. But, there were coupons for the park on the cans, so again, an exception was made.

I'm not quite sure what we did that night, however, I'm fairly certain it included some combination of pizza, a movie and Nintendo...because isn't that what most spend-the-night parties consisted of when you were 10?What I do know is that I was so excited that night I could barely sleep.

So you could imagine my disappointment when I awoke the next morning to the sound of rain - and not just rain, but thunder and lightening, too. I was heartbroken. Trying to cheer myself up, I thought, maybe this is just a small storm, it will blow over quickly, and we'll still be able to go in the afternoon. However, after talking to my friend's mom, we were told that there would be no water park today. Rain all day. I was devastated.

Even as I think about this today, I can't help but blame the mom in this situation just a little. While I realize she doesn't control the weather, couldn't she have at least warned us that there was a chance of rain, much less a storm? I think that would've helped lessen the blow at least a little bit.

I'd actually forgotten about this story until today. During the past week, Herschel and I had been talking about how much we were looking forward to this weekend and laying out by the pool at the club house in our neighborhood. The weather has been perfect all week. It has been nothing but blue skies and sunshine with a slight breeze since we got here. That is, of course, until today.

Just as we got ready to go eat breakfast and run some errands this morning before our afternoon at the pool, I heard a familiar, yet dreaded sound. Yep, rain. And similarly to when I was 10 years old, I've asked Herschel probably no less than 10 times today if he thinks it looks like it's going to clear off and we can just go later. It is now 2:15 p.m. I don't think it will be clearing off any time soon.

Oh, and just to clear ourselves of blame in this particular instance - I've watched the weather everyday this week, and there has been nothing but sun in the forecast. In fact, everyone has been complaining about how dry it is here, and the meteorologist has made a big deal about the fact that there is no chance of rain in the forecast for the next week. Yeah, right...

Moral of this story: if you want to do anything fun outside or water-related, don't invite me. Apparently, the weather gods hate me.

*I now know the truth about this (and most other) water parks now and am no longer disillusioned. I also realize that I was probably spared skin disease and other water-related illnesses by not going that day. However, I was 10 at the time and did not recognize this.