There’s a ton of heavy stuff going down in our country right now. I don’t want to make light of any of it. But I’m writing my life, and in my life right now my house has no gutters on a weekend of continuous heavy rain.

Tuesday through Friday last week showcased the best of Washington weather: Temperatures in the 70s, light breezes, sunshine, glittering mountains. Then Saturday morning, BAM! Literally — we were out for our daily family walk when thunder and lightning started up, followed by rain that hasn’t let up yet.

Unfortunately, this coming week looks to follow the same pattern:

We already feel cooped up during the week, and adding rainy weekends on top of staying home adds another level of strain that none of us needs. For me, Saturday mornings offer the escape of a bike ride, the only time I see anywhere outside of about a 5-mile radius around our house. It gives Ian and Benji a break from me and refreshes my mind and spirit. Benji often plays with neighborhood kids in the afternoons.

None of that happens on a rainy weekend.

Oh, we make the best of it: We played a family game of My Little Scythe, watched the SpaceX/NASA Falcon 9 Dragon capsule launch, and in the afternoon watched Little Mermaid with Benji for the first time. (He gave it rave reviews: “I loved that movie!”) Today, Benji’s spending the afternoon with Ian’s parents, an event he always keenly anticipates.

But even despite doing our best to find activities, I have to look back at weeks when we had good weekend weather with a certain amount of envy. I didn’t think time could feel even longer than it already did, but… it does.