Rain

I told the kids all morning the rain was coming.  Watch for the rain.  Play outside while you can.  They did.  And waited.  As they sat down to lunch, I heard it coming.  I slipped away and stood in my doorway, watching neighbors hurry to get things out of the rain.  And then I walked barefoot into it.  Turned my face up to it.  The cold drops covered my face like tears, the wetness on my cheeks feeling so familiar.  I stand and just let it fall on me, all around me.  Watch the earth get blanketed in a curtain of it.  I hear the kids at the table, now aware of the rain.  They excitedly run about, yelling, looking for me.  But I stay where I am in the rain, almost unable to move.  Not wanting to move.  Feeling like God's touch is falling down all around me, on me.  My sweatshirt soaks through.  My feet start to burn with cold.  I hear the kids, nearly as a dream.  And then they're there.  "Mama!  I don't want my corn bread."  I snap back into reality.  I watch them grab "raining boots" and run into it.  I listen to their made up rain songs while they dance in it.  I watch my three blessings embrace the rain with the joy only children have, wishing they could hold on to that joy forever.  Wishing I knew how to find it for myself.  And so I join in.  We swing in the rain, a muddy 2 year old on my lap.  We run in it.  We dance in it.  We let it fall on us past the point of being soaked through.  Past the shivers.  Past the goose bumps.  We sing in it.  We laugh in it.  We stay in it until the drops get as big as marbles.  Until the earth is too slippery to run on anymore.  Until the cold and wet are finally too much.  The children request hot baths, and I run the water, even though its past nap time.  And as they soak up the warmth, I go behind them, picking up muddy clothes and wiping up dirty footprints, a mess I'd usually be upset about.  And I smile, letting go, knowing the memories that this mess created.  A mess so easily cleaned up in exchange for a lifetime memory, on a day when it was very needed.  God is gracious, and I am so blessed!