Let there be light !

This happened a few weeks ago. We were planning to have a backyard concert – an annual event where we invite all our friends to gather in our backyard for some music and food; improvising our deck as a stage and asking every invitee to perform something.

It is always challenging to schedule this event in advance as Minnesota summers are known for the thunderstorms that materialize out of nowhere and ruin any outdoor evening plans. Yet, all participants needed much advance notice so they could prepare & practice their performances. There is also quite a bit of organization and arrangement that goes along to convert the deck into the stage, getting all the music instruments & PA system out, decorating, planning the food etc. In short, it was not possible to do this party impromptu. So we set a date tentatively and started tracking the weather for many days leading up to it. We did not realize but Diya got a hang of the concept.

The weekend before the party some of our friends had gathered for a practice session and the conversation inevitably turned to the weather and whether the weather would cooperate. The more optimistic people (like me, proclaimed confidently that everything will be fine) and the more pessimistic folks (like Suvo, prophesized doom and gloom as ever). Trying to avoid domestic meltdown some of our friends intervened and suggested we take shelter in science – lets looks at the forecast! So we pulled up the ‘wunderground’ report for the next several days. It did not help us much as the forecast showed rain and shine alternately for the next several days – really meaning that it was going to be a flip of a coin, not really helping the somber mood that was threatening to descend on all of us. But Diya suddenly noticed the screen, and never wasting a chance to participate, said something that left us all laughing (except her ofcourse!). I will type it verbatim, as I can never quite wordsmith as well as she can –

Diya - “Mamma is this showing the weather”
Me – Yes, shona.

Diya – “It is going to be rainy tonight!”
Me – hmmm …

Diya – “Is this next picture for tomorrow?”
Me- yes tomorrow morning, (and anticipating the next 5 questions, I continued to say) and the one after is for tomorrow night, and the one after is for day after tomorrow morning ...

Diya – “Oh … tomorrow is going to be cloudy” … she paused for effect and not getting any response from us she continued …. “and then in the night it is going to be “moony!!”)
Me – I opened my mouth to correct her but could only laugh at her irrefutable logic – if it can be sunny, rainy and cloudy then why can’t it be moony??

The real kicker came the next day when I was driving her back from the daycare. She had inevitably picked up our anxiety around weather and somehow wanted to help. She was uncharacteristically quite and soon said very thoughtfully – “Mamma, I want to be a weather girl when I grow up”. I was suddenly alert – where did this come from, we spent a lot of time drilling in her head that she should be a doctor or an engineer. So I gently asked, why do you want to be a weather girl? She said without hesitation – “So I can make it sunny everyday !!” :)