Don’t wait for the storms of your life to pass. Learn to dance in the rain. – Steve Rizzo
Yesterday evening, my husband and I, and all three of our dogs set out for our daily walk, after dinner. There were a few clouds in the sky, but my husband checked the radar and nothing looked imminent. In Florida, during late summer, it is common to get a daily storm or two. Usually they are predictable, but sometimes we get blindsided by a pop-up storm, that swirls up fast and furious out of nowhere. So, in the middle of our three mile walk, a storm popped up like a scary clown puppet, jumping out of the bushes. Frankly, after the initial surprise, the rain felt extremely refreshing on my body. It has been so hot and humid here, that being showered in cool rain water, honestly felt nothing short of amazing. The rain started slowly, but its pace picked up and within a few minutes all of us, humans and pups, were soaked to the bone. We all looked so funny, wading through puddles, all of our outside coverings – clothes and fur, hanging on our bony frames, like heavy droopy Basset hound skin. I started giggling out loud. I was really enjoying the experience. My husband did, too. He said, “This is a kind of an adventure, like we said that we have been craving.” I was fondly remembering my sister and I, as little girls, donning our bathing suits and ruffled umbrellas, dancing through the streams, on the sides of the streets, during drenching summer rainstorms in Pennsylvania. We quickened our pace, but we enjoyed the sights along the way home, like the ducks, bobbing up and down in a small pond and the raindrops dancing on the surface of the pond water, making it look like a filled up pin cushion. As we turned on to our street, a huge, loud, demanding clap of thunder bellowed, and not as far in the distance, as I would have liked. Ralphie, our Labrador, started to insist that we run home and I was in whole-hearted agreement with him. I was so relieved and grateful to set foot into our warm, dry garage, all together and safe. It is a strange mix of feelings to feel thrilled, clammy, exhilarated, cleansed, scared and relieved, all at the same time. Still, I find that it is these rare concoctions of intense feelings, which we sometimes experience all at once, are the times that make us feel the most, incredibly and vividly, alive.