5-5: The first day of rain

The day I knew would come and was dreading finally arrived yesterday. Rain. I was prepared, I knew what to do, I had rain gear, but when it arrived I still didn't want it. My youngest was snuggy buggy in his bed sleeping when it started. Drip, drop, drip, drop. Then my watch alarm went off signaling that it's time to get loaded into the bike. Renae had generously offered to bring L home if it rained, but we're out of her way and I don't want to shift my carbon footprint - I want to reduce it. I'll wait until there's thunder and lightning to take her up on this. I had mulled this decision over in my mind for the last hour, and my resolve wavered as I walked upstairs to wake my sleeping son. Twenty minutes later than usual we finally set off in the bike. I was thinking maybe I would just bike all the way to school so the kids wouldn't have to walk in the rain. When I reached the bus stop out of breath and tired and saw the bus was on its way I quickly chained the bike and hopped off to get on the bus.

As we reached school the drops started coming a bit more quickly. The kids were not very excited about this aspect of their adventure today. As we crossed the street from school both kids were whining and crying and wanted to get picked up. I'll admit that my enthusiasm was waning as well. I squatted down to their level and pondered my options: Carry both kids, walk back to school and ask for a ride to the bus stop, or get creative. I decided to turn my frown around and get creative. I asked if anyone liked splashing in puddles. They both paused and their faces brightened a bit and said, "yeah". I said, "I think I see one up here!" and ran and jumped into it. They thought this was fabulous! We jumped and splashed our way to the bus stop in record time, happy as could be. We were all wet and muddy, but we made it!

I wonder what other rain storms in life I back out of instead of going through them. When the going gets tough. . .what do I do next? Today offered me hope to keep on going because something beautiful happened when I did.