“Good morning, I am behaving. To many loved ones, no harm. Decided to bless everyone with needed rain. Please stay at home. I’ll be depositing rain until midday.” Message from Jerry (my baby daddy)

If you’ve ever needed proof that Antigua & Barbuda is a small place with big humour, look no further than this week’s tropical visitor: Tropical Storm Jerry, yes, Jerry. The same name as my son. The same name as his father. Apparently, the Meteorological Office is now calling storms straight from my family group chat.

So, when I woke up this morning to the message “I’ll be depositing rain until midday”, I had to pause. Was it the storm, Jerry, the father Jerry, or my son Jerry, who was being temperamental today? Either way, somebody was clearly in charge of precipitation and paternal reassurance.

When the Storm Has Family Rights

The first thing you learn in Caribbean parenting is that names have power. But this week, that power extended to weather systems. Antigua and Barbuda didn’t just get a storm; we got a relative. “Jerry coming,” someone said. “Which one?” I asked. “The one with rain, lightning, and thunder,” came the reply.

Between WhatsApp chats, voice notes, social media posts, and messages asking, “You still have current (Antiguan and Barbudans for electricity)?” commentary, it became clear: whether in the sky or on the ground, Jerry does not do quiet entrances. He shows up, makes his presence felt, and somehow manages to bring both blessings and minor disruption in equal measure.

A Storm with Manners

Now, this meteorological Jerry started scary with predictions of a hurricane, became erratic, settled in, and gave us mostly what we wanted, rain. He wasn’t one of those overbearing storms forcing us to ‘batten dung’ with expectations it would ‘lif off galvanise” and fling trees like dominoes. No! This was the equivalent of a soft-spoken uncle who passes through, waters the plants, and leaves long before night falls.

Hence that unforgettable message: “Depositing rain until midday”! Flash flood warning notwithstanding, with pockets of flood in the predictable areas, much like father and son, with civility and a sense of timing, polite even when annoying you to no end. Imagine if all storms came with customer service updates that polite.

The Rain Economy

Following in good behaviour, electricity stayed with most of us until almost sunrise. In the light of day, all cisterns and water catchment were full, even Pot Works Dam was doing swimmingly.  Schools in Antigua caught up with schools in Barbuda, closed for the day, and workplaces, public and private, responded in kindness, no work today.

The roads became rivers of laughter. Someone messaged, “Jerry paying child support in water.” Another said, “We are lucky, suppose all the Jerrys visited you together, we would all be under water!” And the reality topper “Morning. Please tell your child, Jerry, that we can’t take any more rain.”.

I don’t know about you, but I took that deposit seriously. Dishes done, laundry delayed, and one cup of bush tea brewed under the policy of “Let the storm finish its shift.”

When my Jerrys and the Weather Collide

The real challenge was explaining to my friends why I kept saying, “Jerry is behaving today.” Questions back at me, “Wait, your son or the storm?” “Both, surprisingly.”

There’s something poetic about the universe reminding you of your family via the evening news. The Met Office said, “Jerry will pass by gently.” I said, “The nation has no clue how fortunate it is.” Because let’s face it, no Jerry in my life has ever come quietly. But this one, thank heavens, came to water the plants, not uproot them. Right Matthew?

The National Mood: Damp but Dignified

Antiguans and Barbudans have an age-old art form: storm humour. By the time the rain really started, memes were spreading faster than runoff. Messages in my inbox included – “Jerry outside but behaving, unlike last time” (if you know, you know).

Even the dogs stayed home. The roosters negotiated new wake-up times. Everyone just fell into the rhythm of a gentle tropical sermon with rain as baptism, humour as hymn.

By Midday, Mission Accomplished?

Will Jerry the storm back up my baby daddy and pack up by noon? For now, I enjoy the rainy day and raise my teacup to all the Jerrys in my life: my son, his father, and now the storm. Each one making an impact, each one eventually moves on, and all somehow manage to keep me on my toes.