I Love When It Rains

I stood in the rain today.

I’m not really sure why. I mean, I was dressed in all of my fancy clothes for work, I had papers in my hand, and my hair was all did how I wanted it to be did.

I was walking back to my car from a meeting and it started raining heavily. People around me pulled out umbrellas, and those who didn’t have one started to rush to their cars. One guy on his phone ran under a tree to seek shelter from the weather.

As it started to rain harder, and as people began to walk quicker to their destinations, I started to slow down. The guy under the tree gave me an odd look as I veered off the sidewalk and onto the street. By the time I reached my car, my hair that was all did was drenched, my shirt was sticking to my skin, and my pants were completely soaked. I unlocked my car and put my bag in the back, and shut the door. I looked up at the sky, just noticing how large the drops of water were. I shut my door and began walking again. I walked straight into an open area with no trees. And I just stood there.

And I smiled.

As the rain started to die down, I walked back to my car and drove back to the office where I work.

I used to play in the rain a lot as a child. And I loved it. I remember going outside in those horrid rubber boots and an umbrella. There was something fantastic about the lack of control you had when it rained. You had no control how wet you got; you just stand there and let nature do its thing. And I would always just stand there in the rain, with a huge smile plastered on my face.

I grew up, however, and rain became more of an inconvenience. It cancelled tennis matches. It made it harder to drive. It ruined plans with friends. It made me crabby.

So, I stopped standing in the rain. In fact, I started to resent it.

Growing up sucks, and for countless reasons. You have to do, you know, grown up stuff! However, I think the most important thing that we lose as we age is our ability to accept chaos. Instead, when something happens that we don’t want, we get angry. When I was young, I would run outside when I heard thunder and saw rain. Now I worry more about how it’s going to affect traffic on my morning commute.

But today I stood in the rain with the same enjoyment that I had when I was eight. My rain jacket has been replaced with a button down and a tie, my rubber boots with black dress shoes, and my umbrella with bag full of papers, planners, and notes from meetings. But there is still a childish essence to life that I refuse to give up. I mean, when was the last time you really did something that your eight-year-old self would have liked? When was the last time you played on a jungle gym? When was the last time you decided to go swinging? When was the last time you decided to play in the mud, throw water balloons at people, or color in a Disney coloring book?

Well, I can tell you what I did.

I stood in the rain. And I wasn’t worried about how it would affect my commute back to work. I wasn’t worried about how it was soaking my clothes. I wasn’t worried about how it was screwing up my hair.

I just stood in the rain.

And I was happy.