Caught in the rain

August 29th

The rain caught me this afternoon in the city. I was on my bike trying to get from one appointment to another. The weather forecast called for scattered showers today, but they were supposed to end by 3 pm. And they did, when I left work the sky was clear. Then suddenly dark clouds rolled in, and there was a serious downpour. I just was able to make it to the building where I was going without getting wet. Too wet, that is. I was a little uncomfortable with the wet hair but still presentable.

But the rain didn't stop, and as I was waiting in the vestibule, I was of two minds. On one hand — I loved the fact that it was raining since for the last three weeks there was not a drop of moisture to bring relief and life to the all-parched nature. On the other — I had 7 kilometers of furious pedaling to get home in the strong rain. I figured that I can make it in about 20 minutes, so I took the risk and went for it.

The faster I went, the stronger and more copious were the raindrops splashing on my face. And my bike has no fenders, so all the water from underneath my wheels was leaving dirty marks on my jacket and on my arms and on my back. Soon I was soaking wet. But here is the curious thing — the rain and the water were splattering all over my open extremities — my hands and my legs. It was supposed to be uncomfortable and unpleasant, but as I was getting closer to home, I realized that I love this feeling. I think I forgot about the beauty of naturalness recently. The exposure to rain as a natural event was actually soothing. I didn’t mind being wet and dirty. Just like I didn’t mind it when I was a kid when rain was never a problem, but an adventure. I did an extra loop around my neighborhood before finally going home. I was quite relaxed and content with being untidy and dirty and drenched. The pleasure of it was unexpected but worth remembering for the future.