September 03rd, 2021

Just a quick little story today to round out the week and to illustrate what a truly nice man Tim is.  I mean, I already knew it but now you can know it too.

Yesterday morning started off kind of gloomy.  It looked like it might rain but around here you can never really tell.  Sometimes it's just grey and threatening to rain all day long but sheds nary a drop.  Other times it's beautiful bright sunshine that turns to rain without loosing a single bit of the sparkling sun rays.  So it's tricky.

I was ostensibly writing my blog but between paragraphs and thoughts I often move to the kitchen to do a small chore while thinking.  I will ruminate while emptying the dishwasher. I  contemplate at the same time that I am refilling the coffee machine with water.  I might be cogitating while folding towels.  I don't recall what the chore was yesterday, but I know I had just gotten up from the computer and was in the kitchen when the sky opened up and began to pour.

It was a torrential rain like only Florida in Rainy Season can produce.  They are referred to locally as "gullywashers".   If you are caught out in it, within seconds you are soaked through to your skin. Your fingers get as pruney as they would if you had been soaking in the tub for hours. Your eyelashes become so heavy with rain that it takes effort to blink.  I've been caught out in rain like that here and the question of what to do becomes a real conundrum.  The instinct is to duck under a nearby tree (there are always plenty nearby).  However, standing under a tree when there is a possibility of lightening is never a good idea.  On the other hand, standing away from the tree,  feeling as if you are going to drown on land while standing up, doesn't seem sensible either. What to do, what to do.

As I glanced out the window at that sort of rain a woman came into view pacing across the end of our driveway.  She stood next to our mailbox, looked at the numbers  while fruitlessly attempting to wipe the rain from her eyes, as she spoke to someone on her cellphone.  It was at this point that Tim walked into the kitchen seeking a coffee refill.  He looked out the window because I was. Naturally he was curious about what held my attention.  I indicated the unfortunate and drenched woman who had finished her call and resumed pacing, first under the tree then out from under the tree, back and forth.  "Poor thing", I said.  "We should do something".

Tim immediately walked over to the umbrella stand (yes we have an umbrella stand, doesn't everyone?) selected the red umbrella and without a moments hesitation walked out the door.  She explained to Tim when he approached that she had just called her husband to come pick her up.  Tim offered her 3 sheltering choices.  She could join us inside and watch for her husband out the big bay window in the kitchen. She could stand under the sailshade in the courtyard. Or  he would loan her the big red umbrella.  She thanked him politely and chose the umbrella.

Which meant Tim then slogged back through the driving rain and was utterly and completely saturated when he came back inside.  He dried off and went back to work,  I waited a minute longer and watched her standing, far more comfortably at the end of the driveway under the big red umbrella, no longer pacing and then went back to my computer.

The next time I peeked out the window, the mystery woman was gone.  But she made sure to leave the umbrella in the courtyard.  How very nice!  

The point here is that I said we ought to do something.  Tim actually did it.  And it's the doer's of the world that make things happen.  We should always try to be more like him.

So that's the red umbrella story.  

Now go forth and enjoy this lovely Labor Day Holiday Weekend!