The Calm Before the Storm

After hours of mind-wrenchingly looking at our respective syllabi for Form 1 and Form 2 as written by Tanzania’s Ministry of Education and Culture, Scott and I went for a walk around 5 pm to clear our heads. Just shortly before departing on our walk, I had heard distant thundering. Thunder is something that both Scott and I are fond of and something we’d been deprived of it while living in Wrangell (while it perpetually rains in southeast Alaska, it almost never thunders).

We chose a different direction to walk in and saw more new sights and different roads and paths and greeted, as usual, a plethora of people, young and old. We continued to hear the distant thunder becoming closer and closer. As we walked, I unleashed a lot of my fears and frustrations and, like a good boyfriend, Scott tried his hardest to make this challenging situation we’ve put ourselves seem not that difficult. It seems like I’ve poured and poured over books and syllabi and worksheets and still have no clue what I’m going to do tomorrow for the first day of school.

After walking for a bit, we decided to turn around and picked up our pace. The grumbling thunder seemed at our heels. When we got home, we realized the power was out. We sat outside for a few minutes to watch the rain arrive. The trees danced, the air seemed to change, the temperature dropped. And then they fell – the drops of rain – big and splattering.

It didn’t rain as hard as I had thought or wanted. It certainly wasn’t a storm.