Sometimes the wisdom of an AHA moments jolts something deep inside. I had one of these AHA moments today after a disappointing afternoon of Job Hunting. My car was sweltering in the heat with the lack of A/C, and I was in a cheerfully masked dour mood after getting a pep talk and some advice from a friendly soul at the City Welcome Center on how to improve my job search.
As we were wrapping it up, the wind picked up and I hoped for rain. My plants had used up the last of the reserve rainwater and I’d have to start using the tap again soon. As I pulled into my apartment driveway, the clouds were thick and rolling but they showed no signs of the heaviness that precipitates precipitation. My attention was pulled suddenly to the edge of the building, not because the nearest parking space was clear (yahoo) but because there were strange plastic shapes beneath the both of the downspouts. It took me just a moment to realize what they were.
A little background: Since I moved here I have been collecting rainwater from two downspouts on the outside of the stairwell. I shuttle buckets back and forth, getting myself drenched in the manner of wet t-shirt events carrying rainwater from the spouts to my containers. As far as containers, I’m up to 6 milk jugs, a two-liter bottle, a gallon pressurized sprayer, and a large lidded storage container.
Anyway, I felt a twinge of betrayal when I saw these cutoff milk jugs, under “MY” spouts! I felt I had a claim to those spouts. My neighbor, who placed the jugs, asked me if I thought it would rain. I shrugged my shoulders, got over my feelings at that moment when I had the though “ It really doesn’t matter when it rains.” Many hours late, it rained, and I had a revelation.
See it doesn’t matter where the buckets are when it is not raining; it matters where they are when it is raining. I had already built a plan for whenever the opportunity arose, (or fell, in the case of rain). I keep my buckets put away, but available, empty of soil, or tools and such. As soon as the first drops of rain start to fall, I’m outside with all three empty buckets. The first minutes are really key since the rain usually falls the hardest and the water comes quickly. I cycle the buckets from the spout to my largest container, as quickly as I can, then to my gallon jugs. I can get as much water as possible in the first few minutes then take my time. I continue cycling the buckets, filling the containers from one as the next bucket fills. I usually end up with several gallons of rainwater, even from a 2-minute rain.
What Irealized, while wet, was that long ago I had prepared to save a large quantity of water. One bucket can only hold so much, so I have three. Three buckets can only hold so much so I have other containers. And the water won’t walk itself there, I have to get out and take care of it, in the pouring rain. While my neighbor had put out 4 one-gallon jugs in case of rain, I got several gallons put away, when the rain actually came. That’s why it didn’t matter when it would rain. No matter when, I’d be out there in it, prepared to get as much as I can. As I pondered all this the phrase came to me “You get what you prepare for.”
I felt proud of my self for realizing that. Then I thought about my day. My job search is not getting me what I want, and part of the reason may be that I’m not prepared for what I want to get. Luckily for me, Ive been given the opportunity get the training I think Ill need to be prepared in the future.
Wow, and I thought this was about collecting rainwater . . .
