When I was a child, growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, during the winter months I awoke in the dark and returned home from school in the dark! Each morning, in order to appropriately pick my outfit for the day, I would look out my bedroom window, not at the sky, but at the thermometer that hung outside my window. Based on the current temperature and a quick listen to the radio forecast, I would plan my outfit for the day.
Today however, we have a whole new level of forecasting.
Now when I wake up in the morning, or sometimes get woken up, as the case may be, our son always asks what the day’s weather will be. I would look on the weather app on my phone and give the high and low listed and mention if there is any expected rain, snow or wind.
However, for our 21st century 9 year old son that is not enough information! He wants to know what the weather will be at 10 am, 12 pm and 3 pm.
You see, these are the three most important times of the day! Morning recess, lunch recess and afternoon recess! But of course.
So I go back into the app and look at the hourly forecast and report the requested information.
One morning a few weeks ago, I wanted to go running. Now, I haven’t been able to run early in the morning before the kids get up because, well, it is just too dark and cold at that hour for me. So I have been either going on the elliptical or going running outside at a later time after the morning carpool is complete. Lately, we have had a lot of rain and it has been a bit tricky outsmarting the weather to get my outdoor run in!
These beautiful crisp fall days won’t last forever, and I want to be outside for my daily run as much as possible before winter really sets in.
So the night before I planned to go, I did a quick look at the hourly forecast and saw that it was supposed to rain first thing in the morning and then dry up by 9 am.
It was settled, I would hold off exercising until 9 am and go running outside at that time.
Well, when I woke up in the morning, I got moving and organized and remembered that it was supposed to rain until 9 am. I looked forward to my morning run outside.
Well, low and behold the rain hadn’t come! I came home from carpool, finished davening and changed into my running clothes. I walked out the door and looked up at the sky dismayed to find threatening clouds! But according to the forecast it was supposed to be dry by 9 am, however, the rain hadn’t even started yet. And now it looked foreboding.
I did a quick look at my app again and the hourly report said the rain would begin in 4 minutes as a ‘light drizzle’ and last for 12 minutes!
I did a quick calculation and decided to go for it. After all, they were wrong about the rain this morning, maybe it wouldn’t start in 4 minutes after all. And really, I was so pumped already to run and decided a little “light rain” wasn’t going to stop me. In my energized mind, the gain of running outside outweighed the loss of potentially getting wet.
I took my rain jacket just in case and headed out. Sure enough, within four minutes, I felt little droplets pinging my rain jacket. And indeed it did last for 12 minutes!
As I was running, I reflected on the ability to predict the minute by minute weather forecast! It is amazing really!
Can you imagine if we could also predict the hourly events of our day? Or to even know what would happen four minutes prior and how long it will last?
This would be super helpful in predicting when and the duration of a crisis at work and home!
I used to complain to my father when I was single, that if I could at least know when I would find the right person, get engaged and marry, then it would put my mind at ease and I wouldn’t worry! He responded that I would also lose out on so many opportunities. I wouldn’t work on myself and put my best efforts forward if I didn’t think it mattered. I may decide not to do anything with myself while I wait for the day to be whisked off my feet. I had too much potential to let waste away. Also, he said, with knowing when the day may come, I will most likely make myself anxious while I wait for it to happen or worry that maybe something would change and it wouldn’t happen! Or even worse, if the day came and went and I didn’t meet the One, then I might lose hope all together that it would ever happen. It is almost like the infamous due dates for pregnant ladies. Ironically these are notorious for being more inaccurate than accurate.
My father reminded me that life is here, in the now, and sometimes we can plan in advance and other times we just have to keep moving, putting one foot in front of the other. And at all times we must make our best calculations and hope and Daven for the best.
And then there are the times when we are privy to a bit of a forecast and we have to make a choice of whether or not to push through knowing the potential pitfalls ahead while recognizing the tremendous gain to be had.
As I was rounding out my run, the rain ceased and the clouds parted revealing a bit of blue sky peaking through. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The run was well worth it, even in the light rain, and even more so for the beautiful vista of the clouds parting and the blue sky returning.
Sometimes we have to be in the thick of the rain in order to appreciate the blue skies after. In this way, we are given the ability to not take for granted the beauty and perfection of our every day, every hour and every minute.
Forecasting is a tricky business and often gets a bad rap. Who knows what the future holds? I certainly don’t. But I will do my best to be present and make the best decisions possible with the information I have, the tools and skills I possess at the very moment I am in. And the rest is up to Hashem.