With last Sunday's heat and humidity, all I could do was stay inside, oh, and travel to Southpoint with Claire, on her insistence, in search of an earring holder for a graduation gift, at her namesake store. Always a bit of a shock to see her name at Southpoint in big letters on a storefront. We thought it so special and unusual 14 years ago. Off we went, the car thermometer reading 97 when we got to the dreaded no-shade parking lot, little puffy white clouds in a blue sky. 45 minutes later, after stopping in at Charlotte Russe (all French names these stores that Claire loves) where both mother and daughter purchased items, and then going to CLAIRE'S and finding the perfect device for her jewelry, walking down the halls of Southpoint searching for yet another store for her to browse in, we noticed a dark dark sky through the windows above. We ran to the car and closed the door RIGHT at the first clap of thunder. We had left the windows open a bit, so as not to come back to a much too overheated black car with black interior. Perfect timing; got the windows closed and drove off in what was now showing as 73 degree heat, a 24 degree drop! Amazing. That was some of the hardest rain I have driven in, comparable, I think, to the hard driving rain on a white white highway with Claire nervous in the back seat, Allen next to me in front and me at the wheel, leaving the Grand Canyon 2 summers ago; and here we were on 40, no less (not my favorite road to drive on, even on a sunny day). This time Claire was in front with me, giving me advice, mostly, to slow down. We made it home, where Allen, on our phoned-in request, had left 2 umbrellas in the garage. A little adventure for the graduate and her mom!