Far more valuable to us than any other liquid, water is the most precious substance on this planet. Despite the fact that it is readily available, we should not take for granted the colorless, tasteless fluid that forms the very foundation of life as we know it. While we can survive for weeks without food, and months without socializing in person or having reliable internet access (okay, that last one was tricky with five kids trying to Zoom at the same time), we wouldn't last more than a few days without water.

Change is in the air. The temperature has dropped, children grab their school supplies and hurry out the door in the morning, and most people have established routines that work for them. People deal with difficulties in different ways. During the weeks and then months of quarantine, some people baked bread, others did puzzles, and many finally stopped putting off organizing their closets. (Some individuals were happy to discover bread recipes among their papers and puzzles they had forgotten having bought buried in the bottom of their closets. Organizing does have its rewards.) To the animals, the cooler temperature signals that their lives need some serious adjustments as well. When the canopy of leaves changes from green to gold, the animals, birds, and insects know it’s almost time: Winter is coming, and they have to be prepared to survive.

The great American writer, Mark Twain, once remarked that, in New England, the weather changes so frequently that you can study all the different types of weather by simply standing outside for the day and waiting for the weather to march by. Twain must have written this before visiting Baltimore because people here need only stand in front of their houses for a few hours to experience the full gamut of weather conditions.

Over the past few months, our lives have been turned upside-down in so many ways that we are desperate for a return to routine. Yet there is so much we still don’t know: what our children’s education will look like in September, when the economy will recover, and when we can go to shul and weddings again. Ironically, it is the unpredictability of Baltimore’s weather that is the one thing people can count on with certainty these days.

So, with the kids at home and climatic conditions right outside our windows, it’s an ideal time to learn about the fascinating phenomenon we call “the weather.”

The surface of our lives is not as smooth as it used to be. Secluded in our homes, we look each day for new opportunities to connect with the outside world. Although the marvels of computers and cell phones succeed in making this connection possible, in our dependence on technology for work, entertainment, and children’s studies, it is possible that we have overlooked a source of solace and stimulation right outside our windows.

Nature has always had the power to fascinate and refresh. Fortunately, it is not necessary to travel to exotic locales, or even local parks, to enjoy it. Common backyard birds flitting among the trees and bushes are a world unto themselves, and both adults and children are captivated by observing them and learning about their lives.

Last year, on the first night of Chol Hamoed Sukkos, an intense storm cast five bolts of lightning into the field behind my house. One of them traveled underground, under my neighbor’s house, and slammed through the solid metal cover of my fuse box, starting a fire in my basement. It sounded like a bomb had hit the house. People down the block told me later that they had felt their houses shake from the impact. I was home with my younger four children, while my husband was at shul with my older boys.

We all froze.

Recovering, I told my kids that it sounded like a transformer blew really close by. I didn’t realize at the time that a force of immense power and hotter than the surface of the sun had just penetrated my home.

September brings a breath of fresh air, literally, if you take into account Baltimore’s signature summer heat and humidity. The temperature has finally dropped to under “melting,” and we can breathe easy again. Unfortunately, the return to the soothing hum of routine may be an illusion that is only sustainable because our lives don’t come with background music. If they did, something ominous would certainly be playing. Something enormous is coming and will be upon us before we have a chance to turn around, something so immense it disrupts school, siphons sleep, and even has its own season: Yom Tov.