Once upon a rainy day...there was a girl named K and she woke up to the sound of rain beating against her window(K is from Oregon and loves the rain so this was a beautiful way to wake up). She got out of bed, got dressed, and even had time to curl her hair. K grabbed her umbrella and headed out into the pouring rain. She noticed that the street outside her house had become a river so she had to walk on the ice and snow that had taken over the hidden sidewalk. Trying to maneuver her way she happen to find a nice thin sheet of ice to go skating on and ended up completely soaked- once the skating was over and she had fallen- more like crash landed. So K decided she couldn't go to work all wet and went back home to change.
After changing (her hair still managed to be dry and curly) K again walked to the bus stop, umbrella in tow. Once at the bus stop K waited....and waited....and waited (45 min.) By this time K was pretty much soaked and some people were shouting across the street that the bus service was down for the next hour or so.
K was determined to make the most of her morning so she went back home, called her boss to inform her that she would be late to work, and they decided that for the next hour K would work remotely from home. This sounded great to K so she began to sit down to her laptop to get to work--only the Internet was down at K's house--so there would be no working from home.
K read some things from work she'd brought home, made her lunch, and decided it was time to try to get to work again. So she headed out into the rain--only this time it was very windy. K had a difficult time holding her umbrella, lunch, H2O bottle, and purse --while at the same time avoiding the river road and slippery ice patches. Arriving at the bus stop K began to wait....and wait...and...her umbrella sort of broke, her body from tip of head to toe was soaked, and 20 minutes later the bus arrived.
K was relieved to actually be sitting on the bus until she realized that whatever had been dry under her coat was not wet after sitting down. There was a man on the bus that wouldn't stop coughing and the floor of the bus was muddy, wet, and sick. K was ready to get off the bus.
Once on the train K was able to sit down, relax, and even dry off a bit. She began talking to an old man who was drawing another person on the T. Before she knew it K had missed her stop and ended up getting off the T at South Station (her old stomping ground). So K decided to just walk to work. She pulled out her now partially broken umbrella and headed out the door. It only took her 2 steps before she was practically blown away (like the nanny scene in Mary Poppins). Her umbrella-now completely broken- was bundled up in her arm and she decided to take the T back to her stop.
After getting back on the T, walking to work with no umbrella, and finally arriving at work--K realized she had forgotten her Key Card to get into her office. What a morning for K!
Here are just a few of the reasons why I had an amazing morning:
- Water is very powerful. It can cut into solid objects like nothing else. The steady downpour of rain through the night, morning, and afternoon will get rid of the ice that has been stuck everywhere-especially on the sidewalk outside my house.
- Rain is very cleansing. It washes away the dirt and pollen and breathes life.
- A blind man got on the bus and sat next to me. He was smiling and I was grateful to be able to see the pouring the rain.
- The bus driver said to me (in an Irish accent) while I was getting off the bus, "reminds ya of home don't it?" I'm sure he was referring to his home in Ireland but I had been thinking of my rainy home in Portland and missing it.
- At the hospital stop (MGH) on the T a lady got on who was bald (she was wearing a scarf and a hospital bracelet). I assume she has cancer. She made me very grateful for my health and my soaking wet mop of hair now pulled back in a messy ponytail.
- The artist man I sat with for just a few minutes was well worth me missing my stop.
- So far I've met 3 new employees because I needed them to help me get in and out of the office.
And so although my morning and afternoon could be considered a disaster to many (most people that I told the story to in my office) I'm grateful for the lessons the Lord allowed me to see along the way!
