February 19, 2020 … Wednesday
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is learning to dance in the rain.”
So here we are at this time of our lives … aging daily as in bodies, careers, dreams … with declining or passing parents … embroiled in political maelstrom … with changes of all types occurring or looming ahead – health, job, kids, home.
And here I am … experiencing it all (along with everyone else) and wondering …
Where is the light?
I find myself saying (a lot) … “I don’t like this time of my life.” … all this angst … uncertainty … change! But that is life! It is what it is. And either we can be miserable and feed into it and be eternally grumpy … or we can learn to dance in the rain.
So, I’ve got my dancing shoes on as I need some lightness. Some humor or some lovely little something to lighten my load. I need a little bit of …
Sunshine.
It was actually sunny here in the NW today. An oddity for sure – but oh, so nice! I woke up to two snoozing dogs bathed in golden rays on my bed. It was really a treat (the sunshine/not necessarily the dogs!). Today we (in this part of the country) had roughly 10.5 hours of daylight. I use that term very loosely because (where I live) first light is around 6:30 am and last light is around 6:10 pm … and for those hours in between – if it’s not rainy, overcast, gray, gloomy, dreary, or mizzling – it’s your typical day where twilight arrives shortly after breakfast. Daylight – perhaps; Sunshine – no.
Sunshine might not be a big factor up here but daylight is … and tomorrow we’ll have 4 more minutes of it … and the next day a few more … and by the time we are leaping around on the 29th we will have added a whole 30 minutes of daylight to our days.
I lived in Denver for 34 years. It was always touted as the city that had 300 days of sunshine. Well, Denverites – sorry, that’s not exactly true … but, you do get around 245. Chicago = 189 … San Fran = 259 (really?) … and Seattle a measly 159. And, if you live in Yuma, AZ then you need lots of pairs of sunglasses as it’s sunny 90% of the daylight hours!
So, wherever you live – until the days lengthen and the political climate sweetens … we can bring a little more light into our souls by learning how to dance in the rain.
Or in this instance … tell Alexa or Pandora to play some of these tunes and you can dance TO the rain.
“Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” – BJ Thomas
“Come Rain or Come Shine” – Ray Charles
“I’m Singing in the Rain” – Gene Kelly
“Stormy Weather” – Lena Horne
“Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” – Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
“Here Comes the Rain Again” – Eurythmics
“It’s Raining Men” – The Weather Girls
Go dance!