It didn't hit me until this week that I take Marrakech's weather for granted. Over the weekend, I took students on a Model UN trip to Tangier, in the far north of Morocco. We could see Spain's coast from our hotel breakfast room windows. Although it was warm, the rain and clouds were a bit of a shock to me. Right, I thought, Marrakech is not all of Morocco.
But Marrakech is not even all sunny all the time. And it seemed determined to prove that to us by whipping up a good old dust storm this past Monday. Only it wasn't a good old dust storm; it was a bad new type of storm that lasted for hours, knocked over trees, whipped dust in our faces and into our lungs, and reduced visibility to maybe 50 feet. People who have lived here for ten years said they've never seen anything like it. Good thing I was too tired to really even pay attention to the shaky bus ride home!
Tuesday, Marrakech seemed penitent and wanted to want to wash away all evidence of the dust storm, so it rained on us all day long. Adam was the only happy one with the shta, as he laughingly shooed me away from his sidewalk guard shack to the roofed waiting area for the morning bus so that I wouldn't get even wetter than I already was.
Today (Wednesday), I'm home sick, nursing and hopefully finishing off the cold I caught over the weekend in Tangier. It's a gloriously sunny, typical Marrakechi day. It's warm enough that I have my heater on only to dry my laundry faster. All is once again peaceful and lovely outside.
Isn't that a nice picture of how our emotions can go sometimes? Nasty storm, crying and making amends, glorious peace and happiness afterwards. Of course, that's not how emotions always work. We sometimes go from a sunny day to a rainy one to a storm to sunny again, all in a few hours. I've been on that roller coaster ride many times.
And I guess that's the metaphor I want to draw today--it's okay if you're on that roller coaster ride right now, too. The dust storm won't last forever, and as long as it lasts, you can usually find shelter to ride it out. Then let the rain come--that's an important step. Without it, you won't get all that debris cleared out. And one day, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that you finally have some sun and peace.
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