Very Wrong

There was this day when I wrote a blog post and it was all about how spring had sprung and the sun was shining and we were jumping for joy at the invitation to enjoy all that is the outdoors.  And on that day I was so sure that it had finally sprung and we would soon be shedding our layers and exposing our skin to the glow of the yellow ball in the sky.  That day was just two days ago.

I confess. . . I was wrong.

As I sit in the stillness of the evening, snow is plummeting from the sky and the National Weather Service has warned me that we will have 6 to ten inches of snow on the ground by Friday evening. 

Yep, I was very wrong.

I’m going to choose to look at the bright side, though.  We will have the opportunity, once again, to welcome Spring into our midst.  I can see it now. . . happy dances replaying, venturing out to the re-thawed grass, and finding the toys that were left by the swing set during our outing earlier this week.  Oh, yeah, we will celebrate it again.

(I think that was a rationalization.)

In the meantime, we can handle it.  We do just fine.  Life throws us lemons. . . we’re all about making lemonade.  That glass?  It’s half full.  Rain falls from the sky. . . we’re not going to complain about it, we’re going to dance in it.

Before the snow began to fall. . . it rained.  It rained and rained and rained.  It rained the kind of rain that Forrest Gump talked about.  Heavy rain, sideways rain, big ‘ole fat rain, and even rain that was coming straight up from underneath.  While it was raining Chanelle and I dodged the drops and made our way into Walmart.  It was when we walked by the umbrella’s that Chanelle suggested that the time had come for her to get her very own umbrella.

Man, the excitement on this girl’s face when I threw that umbrella into the cart was priceless. . .You would have thought I bought her a puppy. We couldn’t get out the door fast enough. . . she had to try it out.

It even works when I bend down, Mommy!

These are the tiny little moments that will be in that locked box marked “Extra Special”  and stored in my soul forever.  The days I will go back to time and time again as I tell the stories of the early days.  It didn’t matter that it was 40 degrees outside.  It didn’t matter that she didn’t quite understand how to hold it so not to allow drops to pounce on her.  Nothing mattered.  I watched as she jumped, dove, twisted and turned to the pitter-patter of the raindrops on her brand new umbrella.  There was nothing else. . . only this moment.

As silly as such a moment may seem. . . these are the moments that I think are most important.  Just a snippet in time when I allow us to throw caution to the wind (or rain) and just dance.  Laughing together, playing together and adding to the book of stories that is our life. 

And while warm weather and sun are our most favorite, rainy days have their own special appeal.  We balance the adventure of the outside with the coziness of the inside and find them equally good.  On this particular day we ventured out to go in.

Into the library. . . one of our favorite places to kill time.  Hours are spent transitioning between the train set and the shelves of books. From the puzzles to the books. . . back and forth, back and forth.

That face tells me. . . he’s serious.

And it’s not digging in the dirt or riding bikes or playing in a creek, but this is good, too.  If there is a lesson here for these two little lives it’s that we have to grow where we’re planted.  Whether sunshine and fun or clouds and struggles, our only responsibility is to continue to expand wherever we are.

And anything that is growing will need a little water.  So it is my hope that whatever they are doing they will always take time to dance in the rain.