At 1:12 today, a bizarre sight was seen by anyone driving down Virginia --it was pouring rain, nearly hailing, gusting, windy, cold, and what do you see? A family jogging: suits, ties, pantyhose, and dresses? In the pouring rain? Forget about the bad weather or inappropriate dress, when do you ever see a *family* jogging together in the first place? A few rubberneckers gave us funny looks.
As we were "jogging in the rain", the banter was playful and easy. Eee and I had a good hindsight-in-advance laugh that this would all be funny and memorable soon. There was no worry about mud splashes or stains -- who cares about such things when the heavens are open and the plants are catching their own bits in their cupped leaves?
You may wonder why we were out at 1:12 today? It all started back in October (I think?)...
Several months ago, I got to walk to church with a friend. It was possibly one of the most beautiful, uplifting walks I had experienced in quite a while. We covered a brisk five-ish miles from her house to the church building and the next day I was sore, but happy with my memory of the walk.
Having been sufficiently motivated, a few Sundays later I floated the idea that some of us walk home instead of riding. Kee was up for it and we had a wonderful walk home, thus proving the walk doable. The next Sunday I floated the idea of walking *to* church (a much more difficult feat of timing) with both Vee and Kee. A few weeks later, in an act of faith-in-the-little-guy, Jee joined us. We have had various configurations of walking for the last month plus a bit.
Today, by some bizarre stroke of luck, we were all ready to go by 8:30 and decided to walk most of the way to church. Eee must have thought we were all crazy, loco, fou, etc. but he didn't complain and we made it out the door and on the sidewalk. We actually got to church early. I swear there was a time warp somewhere along the way that made it possible.
The walk home was pleasant for only a few blocks. The clouds came fast and furious. Only a minute or two of droplets then whoosh, the rains came a'tumbling down.
You know how you get rain drops on your eyelashes and it can give you a light-through-water prism effect to your vision? I love that look. It makes the world look magical. A few glimpses:
* Aee's shiny little shoes running so fast, flick, flick, flick as she ran full-out. I have never seen her run with such vigor. There is something majestic about a runner who uses the full leg to run, such a beautiful stretch, perhaps because it reminds me of the beauty of a horse's full gallop.
* Vee's hair completely soaked, rain dripping all over his eyes, face, glasses, me noticing that no one else has the same splatter pattern on their faces. Why? Because Vee has been looking up into the rain -- it's so beautiful -- whereas most people look down.
* Eee's suit doesn't look that wet. I look around at all three suits and realize that suits are water repellent. I didn't know that.
* Jee is so quiet. I work a little harder to pay attention to where he is so that at every street crossing, he is holding a tall person's hand. Why is he so quiet? For good reason -- he is an absorber. He is soaking up every little detail that is happening in the world around him. As we run down the hill, he is experiencing and calculating the incline. As we pass the flowers, he's taking stats on which ones catch the liquid and which ones don't. I'll hear these details later if I take the time to ask.
Kee stops, picks a big leaf, shows us the puddle of water in it, then... drinks it. Ha.
* Kee seems unphased by the rain. He's absorbing too, soaking it in deep. Do I have children or plants?
I'm enjoying the run, realizing how lucky am I to be surrounded by people who don't blame me for them getting soaked, fully realizing that it could have been an unpleasant experience. For a few minutes, I feel like I'm 15 yo again and back in WA state, stuck in the rain because I cared more about getting out to see the world than I cared about whether or not it might rain (and there was always "a chance of rain" in WA).
I love rain.
