Since we live in Florida it goes without saying that there’s a lot of rain, especially in the hottest part of the summer: the day heats up, the sun absorbs all the moisture, the clouds fill up, and boom! Nearly every afternoon is filled with showers that come up pretty quickly. It has been this way my whole life and I really love it.
I see a rainy day as an opportunity to make a pot of coffee or pour a glass of wine, curl up in a comfy chair, and read. A very lovely day, indeed. The reality though is that I have a full-time job, responsibilities, and blah-blah-blah so I don’t actually get to enjoy the rain that often … but when I do, I really enjoy that cozy time with my coffee and books.
A long long time ago when my youngest children were quite little we ventured out on a summer day to our local natural history museum. It is a charming outdoor space with farm animals, birds, turtles, long nature trails, and a play area for kids. We’ve been there hundreds of times and always enjoy our walks and seeing the animals.
On this day, we decided to walk the extra-long nature trail which is several miles around the entire park. I was suited up with a backpack of water bottles, sunscreen, bug spray, baseball caps all around, a tiny child in a stroller, and a toddler: nature and teachable moments here we come! So exciting! (Read: So stupid!)
We set off at the trailhead and the sun was shining brightly on this glorious day of learning and exploring! We walked along and saw the flora and fauna that is indigenous to our part of Florida and it was beautiful!
As a mom it is easy to get distracted because children ask a lot of questions and you’re busy shooing mosquitoes and smearing on sunscreen and saying things like, “No! Don’t put that in your mouth.” So, while I was trying to corral two small people on the trail the day started getting hotter and more humid and a little cloudy but we were on a grand adventure so who cares?!?!
Except that the bottom dropped out of the sky in a big way. The rain was as thick as I’ve ever seen it and picking up speed. And we were slap-dab in the middle of the trail. Whichever direction we chose it would be the same distance to dry land. We couldn’t run because we were already exhausted and now we were each wearing many pounds of sopping wet clothes and shoes. Everything we had on was drenched, the stroller was drenched, the backpack of water bottles was drenched. Yikes!!
We rounded a corner where we ran into an older couple who were visiting from Germany and, you guessed it, they did not speak a word of English and I do not speak a word of German. They were politely asking me something that I could not respond to so I did what everyone does and I started speaking English a little louder and making “come on it’s this way out” gestures. They helped me with the stroller and we helped them back to the trailhead all laughing and running together.
In spite of that moment of both craziness and fun, we decided to drive home, put on dry clothes, cozy up on the couch and read some good books that afternoon!
Rain, rain go away! Come again another day!
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