It rained today. 

This is significant for two reasons, really: 

1. The first day of Spring just happened a few days ago, and here in Colorado we’ve seen a LOT of snow, but no rain until now. 

2.   I love the rain. 

We’ll come back to these in a minute. 

I’ve become so used to winter and the early sunsets that I still haven’t adjusted to the fact that it’s daylight when I’m done with work for the day. So when I found myself all finished with work fairly early and I still had time to do things, I had no clue what to do with myself other than to go grab some coffee (stick around long enough and you’ll see that coffee is basically always my answer). I hopped in my car and drove to grab my fix. I decided on a nice, big, iced one, and because I was in a mood, I got one with all the sugary goodness in it. By the time I was headed home with my coffee, it was raining fairly heavily. 

I immediately smiled. 

My drive home had me driving toward the mountains, but I couldn’t see them at all. The clouds and mist were completely covering them in a very eerie and stunningly beautiful way. I also knew exactly what it meant: it was going to keep raining for a while. 

I got home, pulled my car into the garage, and immediately jumped out to grab my umbrella out of the back seat. This one lives within easy reach because it’s one of my favorites. ONE of them, because I tend to not do favorites… what if my bright yellow lemon umbrella gets sad? I ran out into the rain with *one of* my favorite umbrellas and just stood for a while, taking it in. I took a few photos, looking like a weirdo crouched down in the middle of my street. I walked back to my front steps and stood, listening to the rain. 

And then it happened. 

That’s about as well as I can explain it, “and then it happened,” because it’s really just a feeling. It’s a feeling that all of a sudden you just know you HAVE to do something. I knew I had to take a walk in the rain. 

I ran inside, told my cats I was going for a walk (I didn’t want them to worry), put on a coat and a rain jacket over my sweatshirt (it’s Colorado), and ran back out into the rain with *one of* my favorite umbrellas. Sadly, it was just cold enough that I had to leave my iced coffee inside… point for hot coffee. 

I headed for the trail behind our cul-de-sac.

Thus began the best walk I’ve been on in a long time. 

The air was cool and crisp. The rain was falling heavily enough to create a lovely sound on the umbrella above my head, but not so heavily that it kept me from looking around. 

Everything looks more beautiful in the rain. 

Every color looked more vivid under the gray sky. I saw the darkest trees, with hues of brown and red, and some black. There was bright green moss at the bases of some. The pavement gleamed up at me, all glossy from the water dancing on it. The swings at the playground held still and let the water droplets fall steadily off of them. The wide expanse of grass in the park was mostly dead, but somehow looked ready to come back to life at any moment, with patches of green scattered throughout. 

Let’s go back to those two reasons that rain today was significant: 

Reason number 1: It has newly turned to Spring. 

This is significant because I have been in a season of winter, literally and metaphorically. I have been waiting (sometimes patiently) for it to end, and for life to show itself once more. I have been ready for the death of things to be on pause, and for bursts of life and growth to begin. I am not the only one waiting, and that has only made me more anxious for it all to change. I was never really all that fond of Spring until the past few years. Now, I see beauty in the irony of my two favorite seasons being Fall and Spring. And a crisp, cool rain in the first week of Spring felt special and hopeful. 

Reason number 2: I love the rain. 

I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory… remember the vivid colors and lovely sounds? Rain helps us to see the beauty of the things around us that we tend to take for granted. Colors stand out against the background of a gray sky. Mountains look unreal and magic when the clouds finally move over enough to see them. The smell of freshly watered earth and someone’s fire mingle together to make you inhale the image of a cozy moment by the fire, reading. The world gets a little quieter to better allow you to hear the splash of the puddles as cars drive through them, the drops of rain hitting roofs and part-favorite umbrellas, and the calls of birds as they bathe and play in the rain. 

Did I mention I saw ravens? 

Someday I’ll tell you just how significant that really is, but for today I’ll just tell you that it was one of the most powerful moments of this walk for me and I spent a LOT of time under a tree, looking up and listening to their messages. I hardly ever see them, but the rain brought them out today. I guess they love it, too. 

Eventually, I began my walk home, realizing the cold I have was now going to get a lot worse. 

Worth it. 

During my entire walk, I had so many moments that took my breath away. I didn’t see anything that surprised me, necessarily. It was more that I just so clearly felt… at home. 

At peace. 

Alive.

Connected. 

I… felt. 

And I needed that. 

And I smiled.

I needed that, too.

 I knew before I was even halfway into my walk that I needed to sit down and write about it the second I got home. I’ve forgotten a lot of what I wanted to say (specific phrases, don’t worry, the main idea is the same) and I’ve been a little distracted, but still, here I sit. 

The whole reason I really wanted to write this was to remind myself, and maybe you, too, that there are still things worth taking a moment to pause and embrace. I wanted to remind us that there is still cause to smile. And there is cause to walk, to play, to write, to be the weirdo in the street, to splash in puddles and talk to birds. There is cause to embrace the things in life that make you feel like life. 

I am writing for the first time in a long time today, because today… 

Well, today it finally rained. 

And I got to go out and enjoy it, just me and *one of* my favorite umbrellas. 

Wishing you a rainy day (in the best way possible), 

Dannika