Those who love to walk in the rain should walk in the rain

It is pouring outside today. It wasn't raining all day - I had a lovely breakfast and stroll down NE Alberta St. with Lisa this morning, checking out the co-op and all the funky stores and art galleries and restaurants. But this afternoon it really started coming down. So, naturally, when it was clear that the rain had settled in for the long haul, I decided it was time to go out to the garden. John had just gotten home, with his friend John (he's got about 3 friends named John, which makes it difficult sometimes - for simplicity, this one is John S.). John S. warned me that it was "practially primordial out there," and that I should put my wellies on and be prepared to get wet. I pointed out that that was most of the reason I wanted to go outside - to be in the rain and, yes, to get wet.

I love walking in the rain. I don't so much love walking in the rain when I'm walking to work and have to try to stay dry by wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, or when I'm carrying things that I don't want to get wet. But I love walking in the rain and just BEING in the rain, feeling it splash down on me from the clouds above, feeling it drip off my eyebrows and down the bridge of my nose, feel my hair getting soggy and eventually dripping from the tips as well, feeling closer to nature as I get wetter and wettter and happier and happier. I took out the compost, picked the last of my zucchini and basil and gourds, and one remaining unbedraggled sunflower, and then came back to the apartment, completely soaked and with a huge grin all over my face.

This got me thinking, wow, everybody should go walk in the rain more often - we'd all be so much happier! But then I realized that some people don't like the rain like I do, so that might not actually make everybody happier after all. So I amended that to "those who love to walk in the rain should walk in the rain," which basically means "everybody should do more of what makes them happy." Can you imagine what the world would be like if everybody walked around with huge grins on their faces all the time like the one I get from walking in the rain?

So, if you love walking in the rain and it's raining, go walk in it. If you love something else, do that. Give yourself a grin, a nice wide pure-pleasure smile. You deserve it!