August 17th, 2020

I woke up early this morning to the unmistakable sound of rain on the roof.  Yes, even without my hearing aids on, I could hear the rain. It was torrential. It wasn't just tippytapping gently, it was the entire percussion section of an orchestra drumming.  So I did what any sensible person would do.  I smiled and fell back to sleep.

When I woke for the second time about an hour later (what a slacker!) I could not longer hear the rain and since the curtains were closed I certainly could not immediately see what was happening outside. My assumption (though one should never assume) was that the storm had passed.  So I was quite surprised when I went into the bathroom to take my shower, looked out the window and discovered that it was still raining out.

This time the rain was different, steady but gentle, softer and more fragrant.  It was the quintessential summer rain.  Ahhhh.

Once I was dressed, even though my hair was still wet, I grabbed an umbrella and my rubber flipflops and went out to rescue the newspaper.  Fortunately our newspaper delivery person, wise to the ways of summer in Florida, had double bagged the paper and it was still dry. Yay!  I also noticed that the garbage and recycle had been picked up.   

So I tossed the newspaper on the front mat and trundled, one at a time (needed one hand for umbrella wrangling) the bins around to the side of the house.  Every time I stepped in a puddle I was prepared for a chill that never came.  The water temperature was much like slightly cooled bath water. Perfect.  

Mission accomplished I casually strolled back (there was no need to run) to the front of the house, picked up the newspaper and went back into the house.  I closed the umbrella and removed my flipflops, dropped the newspaper on the counter and left the wet things to dry in the utility room, smiling all the while.

What a perfect start to a Monday.  Unlike the old song, Rainy Days and Mondays do not "get me down".  Instead I am relaxed, a little sleepy.  I feel no need to rush, no desire to play 'beat the clock' which is my usual state.  My list  of gotta-do's for the day suddenly loses importance.

Normally I start each day as if I was blasted out of a cannon, my mind awhirl with a thousand thoughts and the thread running through that chaos is the list of things that need to be done.  The list gets prioritized and re prioritized and re re prioritized constantly throughout the day. I move from one chore to the next to the next without a break. If I eat breakfast at all, it's on the run while doing other things.  While I do ordinarily take a lunch break, it's not unusual for it to occur mid-afternoon which means that when dinner time rolls around, I am not  yet hungry. I t's not at all unusual for me to skip dinner. And when the dark of the day finally falls and we are settled in on the sofa to read or watch TV and chat a little, I'm normally so beat that instead, I just conk out. (to be fair it's a super comfy sofa)

But today,  today I'm not rushing, I'm not racing, I'm not flying through the house trying to do twelve things at once.  Today I will do one deliberate thing at a time and take lots of breaks.  In fact, I would not be at all surprised if today, once the things that honestly do need to be done are completed, that I chuck the gotta-do list entirely and just sit and read the afternoon away.  Or alternately read and nap.

I cannot help it.  Rain is hypnotic.  I feel as if I am in a daze all day long. It's almost as if I'm dreaming the day away.

Some people fall asleep in the hot sun.  Not me, I fall asleep on a rainy day. And more shockingly, I don't even feel a bit guilty about it.   I am absolved of all guilt on a rainy day, which is a whole other kind of relief.

Soooo right now that is my plan for the day.  Drag my lazy sleepy rainy-day butt through any chores that absolutely positively must be done and then phone it in for the rest of the day.  A little reading, a little snoozing, a little gazing out the window day dreaming and watching the rain fall. Ahhhhhh.  Lovely.

Unless of course, the sun comes out.  If the rain stops and the sun begins to shine again, all bets are off.