Hurricane Season, Rainbows, and a love/hate relationship with June

Well, the season really began on June 1st. Hurricane season also works as quite a nice metaphor for this time of year if you're a teacher.  I kinda wish a hurricane would hit my classroom and blow away all the work I have for the next two weeks.  Hell, it looks like one already hit my desk.  Either that or an Office Max threw up all over it.

(I cannot stop listening to Florence and the Machine lately.  This song in particular.)

When I was 10, Hurricane Bob hit Montauk when my family and I were staying out there on vacation.  We rode it out in the main building of the old-fashioned family motel where we were staying, and even though it was scary to see the ocean going nuts just on the other side of Route 27, it's one of the most memorable vacations I've ever had.  And after the storm passed, my family went down to the beach with the other families with whom we passed the day behind taped up windows, and maybe I'm romanticizing the past (and  I really don't think I am) but I remember it being one of the most beautiful evenings on that beach with the surf still churning and the sun setting and shells and driftwood washed up from all the action.  (And I write this with the caveat that my family was lucky that this is the memory we have of hurricanes while others have lost a lot more than one day's vacation 21 years ago.)

Anyway, metaphors: wreckage, detritus, new beginnings.  My life right now.

Keepin' it classy: barefoot at toughcookienyc's nuptials

Speaking of new beginnings and weather phenomena, my homegirl over at toughcookienyc.com got married last Sunday, and I was blessed to be part of the celebration.  Earlier in the day, a sudden cloudburst accompanied by dramatic thunder cut short the photo session for the bridal party, so we ended up hiding in a greenhouse (I bet there's a great pic of that) and bolting for various cabs before the wedding.  But during the final blessings in the ceremony, the skies cleared and a big fat double rainbow appeared over the East River right outside the big picture window in our room at the Water Club.

No rainbow in this picture, but still awesome.  This is before I went barefoot .  

I added my own contribution to the day's waterworks at that point.  If you're gonna have big enthusiastic  downpours on your wedding day, the least the universe can do is provide you with some color and light at just the right moment.  Timing really is everything.

So here's to a beautiful and auspicious beginning to my newlywed buddies, and to a salvageable year's end for me.  Hope I can ride it out without sustaining too much damage.