By Mary O’KEEFE

Every Wednesday morning during the school year I am at the Fire House youth center from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. cooking breakfast for Rosemont Middle School students. I have been part of a volunteer workforce that, for years, has flipped thousands of pancakes and served hundred of kids. It is so much fun to watch them grow from the first day of school to the last, from seventh to eighth graders as they get ready for high school.

This Wednesday morning was no exception. I got there at 6:30 a.m., started cooking the sausage, squeezing the fresh orange juice and flipping pancakes. The kids came in as normal – it was a little misty outside; raining but not too bad – at first. Then just before they were to head to school there was a downpour and these kids became super energized. They started laughing at each other as they walked out the door and began to walk to school. Then they returned, soaked and actually a little surprised they were so wet. One student remarked that this was California; “It doesn’t rain here.”

The fact is it does rain here but we have been in a drought since these kids were born so to them rain is very unusual. This rain was also out of season. October and November is the season for Santa Ana winds, January is rain, February is drying out and then it’s back to the beach. But that was then and this is now.

“Santa Ana winds have been pretty dormant,” said Kristen Stewart, meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

She added the recent rain was “early” in the season. And we may not be done; there is a “fair chance” of rain sometime between Monday and Wednesday of next week.

The temperatures are going to be the real star of the show during the next few days. It’s going to a little on the cold side. Today, Thursday, there is an expected high in the upper 50s, and a low around 43 degrees Fahrenheit leading into tonight and early Friday morning. The high on Friday is expected to be about 66 with a low in the high 40s. Saturday is a little warmer with a high near 74 and low around 47. On Sunday it is expected to be a little cooler during the day with a high of about 68 with a low around 49. On Monday there is that chance of rain with a high near 63, low near 44. On Tuesday there is, again, a chance of showers with the same cooler temperatures as Monday.

Now, not only is it going to be rainy it is definitely going to be colder for most sunny Californians; however, once again nothing is as it was as climate change continues to drive the weather bus.

The Rosemont students, who were oh-so-very excited about the rain soon came to the realization that they now had to walk all the way up Rosemont Avenue to their school with their backpacks and the rain still coming down. Perhaps we all will have to make adjustments; as our climate changes, the students adjust.

So if on Wednesday morning you saw a number of walking black garbage bags, with heads sticking out of the tops, that would be the Rosemont students … and a metaphor for what all of us will have to do – adapt to a changing world with creativity and a lot of giggling.