Moving to Indiana 2004
by Michael Doyle

Pulling up to the state line
The moment we crossed over
The rain began 
October 24, 20004 
I swear it seemed to have no end
40 days in, the jokes began
Should I build an ark
There would be no stopping at the Dunes
Just a beeline down the highway
To Indianapolis, in the pouring rain
Then looking out the window for some 
60 days filled with day after day
Of pouring rain

So then, this is the Indiana
That my then wife wanted back to see
For a California man
I had never seen so much wet 
Besides the water in the oceans
Precipitation, snowfall, and 
The extreme temperatures 
Not since 1935 had it been so wet
The outlook of the window seemed a bad bet

The day we went to the movies
I heard the shrill cry of a lone seagull
As if the gull was commiserating
With the wounds in my psyche
Questioning whether I had made a bad choice
Dwelling on questions of distinction
Wondering if I would find my extinction
2100 miles away from what had been home

January and February felt almost benign
I was assured this was normal 
As I watched ice hanging from the trees
Branches falling off as if icicles
Telephone lines brought down under the weight
Of the normal amount of ice
With a sudden onslaught of freezing rains
I stared out the windows 
Again, feeling alone in my isolation
Waiting for my final annihilation

Straight-line winds whipped across
The backyard and snapped the willow
Having never seen this before
I ran out the door, uncertain
How I was to lift half the tree 
Off the neighbor's chain link fence
The neighbor and my former wife laughed
But I managed to get it off the fence
Before it collapsed
When I got back in our home
My face and my shirt were in shreds
No one had told me this wasn't done

Spring brought the tornadoes
With the entire region, wet and warm
Two days in May brought 10 tornadoes
Five on each day
This was a novelty to a man like me
Who had lived in fairly stable weather
For most of my life
I thought about the occasional earthquake
Realizing how easy those had seemed
In light of this midwestern comparison
Supercells brought even more rain
Lord, my prayer began, what have I done

Summer 2004 was cooler than average
And filled with yet more rain
Nearly every day, there was more rain
Then came July's widespread derecho
Trees and powerlines came down yet again
And found me still staring out the window
Wondering if even the heavens disagreed
With a surfer moving to Indiana
Wondering if this was the life that
I had signed on for
The most power line damage since 
The 1974 tornado outbreak

Winter season 2004 brought winter storms
The greatest snow totals ever recorded
Something new for the sunshine surfer
Jokes came about learning to surf the snow
Humor is often the best remedy 
To moments filled with puzzled doubt
One inch of black ice on the ground 
Came with the layers of freezing rain
Learning to drive on ice was wonderous
A bit like body surfing in the middle 
Of 2000 pounds of vehicle that was
Stuck in a power glide
As it slid into the intersections
To make turns on a wink and a prayer

Welcome to Indiana, everyone said,
And I kept it to myself
That voice inside questioning 
If I would end up dead
After all, this was the life 
That everyone around had grown up 
Living except for the few like me
And it brought smiles to everyone's face
As I tried my best to humbly embrace
A life that I had never lived
2023, it seems I have adapted
And now all of these memories 
Are just that and something more

A new way of life learned to be lived
And accepted
Two seasons are how it seems
Too hot and then too cold 
With maybe a week or two in between
That pass for four seasons
And embraced for two reasons
Daughters one and two
Who I love more than life

(c) June 5, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved