Serious Rain

Friday began with rain. No one in my group wanted to walk our dogs together, so Sheba and I walked alone after the rain stopped. It didn’t rain much at all, but all I could see when I looked out the window was water dripping off everything. It was a lovely day to light a fire and practice ASL.

But my time on the chaise didn’t last long. Soon, I was up and about putting thigs away, doing dishes and vacuuming.  It always gives me a very good feeling to have my house all tidy and clean. And then I napped. When I got up again, I received an email from Stacy, in reply to my email to her about meeting Tenley, her fabulous, wonderful daughter.

Her email moved me to tears. I am smitten with Stacy, and she clearly is very happy to have me as a friend. She, and her sister Kris, and Kris’s husband, Steve, have become my most important friends here. Something has softened with my gay cabal. I rarely hear from Jay, who’s moved twice in the past two months, and Eoin and François.

Late in the afternoon, I received an email from the Nanaimo regional District warning all of us on Vancouver Island and Gabriola of a flooding and heavy rain warning (see the map above to know the area forewarned; the 'home' sign is Gabriola). It was raining pretty heavily when it arrived, but it’s overnight that the deluge is expected. I’m a little worried about the wood in one shed. When we last had a real atmospheric river, my backyard was a lake.

I continue to feel blessed living here and with my pets. I’ve given up on travel and attending live events, and I rarely go to Vancouver now. I’ve got a lot in common with agoraphobics, but I’m happy with my life in spite of these limitations being imposed by C-PTAD/FND. I’m a man of letters!

I think what I like most here, is the silence at night. I have never been awakened or disturbed by sound (except for one night when a neighbour’s dogs were endlessly barking). It’s blind dark and silent except for the sounds of nature, but with my thick log walls, I hear nothing, and so I sleep like a king—okay, queen.

And I’ve made some great friends here. And for some reason, it pleases me that they all have only known me as a person with speech and seizure disorders. I’ve had incredible support from my neighbours and friends here. Stacy, Kris, Steve and Nancy have become my Gabriola family. 

Another wonderful thing about living here is well illustrated by what happened here on Thursday when, late in the day, Kris invited me over for happy hour. What I love about here, is that going to Kris’s place means driving down to the south end of the island. It’s perhaps 12 minutes to drive there, but almost the entire way is through trees and between her and my place there is only one stop sign. Oh, and parking is free everywhere and abundant. I came home from Kris and Steve’s at around 8:00 and I didn’t pass a single vehicle on the way home.

The quiet and the solitude are my natural medicines for my condition.

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Well, this almost feels like an atmospheric river. It rained all night, and it is still raining like mad this morning. There will be flooding for sure, but so far, my wood is still dry. I’ll be checking through the day, but the rest of the time we’ll be indoors.