A Pirate's Life for Me

It rained pretty much all weekend here. And it was wonderful.

The rain makes me think of when I was a kid. I’ve always loved thunderstorms. The louder, the better. I like the drama of it. 

We had a lot of lawn furniture when I was growing up and we tried to bring the cushions in whenever it would rain. We’d shake them out to ensure that no icky creepy crawlers were allowed entry into the house and then drag them into the living room. That’s when the real fun would begin.

Like any self-respecting kids, my sister and I would use the cushions to create forts of epic proportions. Once inside our cushion-y creation, we took on a whole host of new identities. Sometimes we were princesses inside a haunted castle on the stormy moors. Or we could be witches in a cave by the sea, stirring our potions. More often than not, though, pirates became our chosen personalities.

As the thunder crashed outside of our sturdy frigate, we yelled orders to our fellow buccaneers. We fought valiantly against the ravings of Mother Nature, doing everything in our power to keep our ship afloat. To keep our crew from losing hope as the waves threatened, we would engage in the enthusiastic singing of sea shanties that always sounded shockingly similar to Disney tunes. And when the sun finally peeked out again and we found ourselves on solid ground surrounded by treasures untold (you know…like ice cream or the newest episode of Fraggle Rock), we would take our fill. Then all our fellow pirates would be commanded back on the ship, to take to the high seas once again for as many adventures as we could squeeze in before it was time to take the cushions back outside.

I thought about my past life as a pirate a number of times this weekend. As there was no thunder, it didn’t seem quite right to resurrect the old ship. But with the possibility of summer storms not too far in the future, I’m thinking I better invest in some cushions, with or with out the lawn furniture. And tell my sister to brush up on her pirate jargon. I’m going to need all hands on deck.

‘Cause it’s been far too long since I last set sail.