This week has been a heavy one. I would be lying if I did not say…I am a tad bit disappointed in 2024 so far.  

Which is exactly the reason I have decided to keep it light this week. I think we could all use it. So, when thinking about what I would write about this week, for some odd reason Forrest Gump came to mind. Do not ask. I cannot even begin to understand the way my mind works, so I would not expect you to either. 

Maybe it is because it is my comfort movie? That is the best explanation I can give. We all have those movies or shows that perhaps remind us of easier times like our childhood or maybe they just make us happy, so we find ourselves turning them on when things are looking bleak.  

So, Forrest Gump it is.  

I started watching this movie and I could not help but think… Gump would make one hell of a meteorologist.  

In the middle of the move, he tells us about his time in Vietnam during the war. During his tour, Gump describes what seemed like a never-ending rainstorm, weirdly like what we have been seeing here in North Louisiana this week. (I am beginning to think it will never stop.) 

He said, “One day, it started raining, and it didn’t quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stinging rain, big ol’ fat rain… Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night.” 

Sounds familiar, right? 

If I recall correctly, I am fairly sure he even asked if someone could turn it off?… Anyone? No? Okay. 

When I watch movies, I have always been really good at noticing foreshadowing. We can thank my eighth-grade English teacher for that. (Side note: One time she made us watch Steel Magnolias in class during this lesson on foreshadowing. You remember the scene where they are celebrating Shelby’s son Jack’s birthday? Well, if you recall, during that scene they show everyone sitting around a table singing “Happy Birthday.” They show the whole family except Shelby. You can see Jack sitting in her lap, but it never shows her face. Apparently, this was foreshadowing that Shelby was going to die. Who knew? Traumatizing, right?) 

But back to Forrest Gump…  

I have always viewed that tranquil rain scene as foreshadowing that things are about to get out of hand. It is not particularly because of the rain specifically, but because of the song playing in the background of the scene right before the rain ends and the ambush begins. The song, “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, goes like this… 

“There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a man with a gun over there telling me I got to beware.” 

Pretty crazy right? 

I sure hope this rain we are getting here in Louisiana is not foreshadowing for another ambush. I think the many devastating and abrupt losses the community has experienced in the last couple of weeks, along with the shutdown following the ice storm, is enough for a little while.  

I am choosing to think of the rain as a new beginning versus the foreboding. Let it wash away all the griminess of 2024 with high hopes of a fresh start.

(Paige Nash is a mother of three girls, publisher of Bienville Parish Journal and Claiborne Parish Journal and a digital journalist for Webster Parish Journal.)