I Smile

Three-mile sweat collides with damp air, prickling my skin.

Heavy clouds throw down sheets of water – more than I’ve seen in a year.

The droplets pelt my over-sized, black umbrella with rapid urgency.

Walker Crossing’s parking lot morphs into liquid motion.

My running shoes squish in unavoidable puddles.

Half way between fitness center and apartment, my socks meld into my soles.

I hate wet socks. Kind of like wet jeans. Ew.

From iNano buds still in my ears, Robert Pattinson croons a bluesy love song.

Come to think of it, I feel a little like Bella Swan on the first day of school in Forks. (Yes, I’m a Twilight fan, but that’s not the point. Don’t hate me.)

I do miss the heat of Phoenix. It hasn’t stopped raining in Knoxville since I got here. I hate anything cold and wet too. It is hard adjusting to a new and different place. *sigh*

But then…

I smile.

If it weren’t for places like Knoxville, then places like PHX wouldn’t be so great. I know that sounds like a cut, but really it’s the train I ride to make it to the station of appreciation. I’m experiencing what makes PHX great by not experiencing it – by being somewhere less sunny and less warm and more insect-invested and more pollinated.

I smile because – well – I choose to. No point pining for a PHX I can’t have. I had it for a while, it was great, and I’ll cherish the memories. But I choose to move on.

I smile because, like Bella, I miss the sunny, exotic place, but little do I know that amazing gifts lurk in the rainy shadows of my new home. If she hadn’t moved into those shadows, she never would have found her gift, Edward. Now, I don’t need an Edward, I have my Daniel who is the love of my life, but I smile because I will continually be on the lookout for the gifts that are for me here that I would never have found anywhere else. In fact, I think I’ve already had the privilege of receiving some of those. (I have more analogous theories about the Bella/Edward stuff, but that’s coming up in a later, special series of posts for Dry Ground. Keep watch for that…)

I smile because, if I surrender my longing for the sunshine, I find pleasure splashing in puddles, lingering in the downpour, listening to the sound rain makes on car hoods, roof tops and pavement, watching the turtle in the pond out back enjoy sprinkles pinging his shell.

I smile because I can learn to appreciate the different kind of beautiful in Knoxville again, if I let myself ride that train.

I smile because without rain, rainbows don’t exist.

I smile because this is the day the Lord has made, and I’ll rejoice, be glad in it.

Wherever you are, I hope you can too. Thanks for visiting Dry Ground!