do not fear

Yesterday, here in Chicago, it was 65 degrees. 

First of all, this is madness. It is the middle of January, I should be feeling my lungs freeze and shatter into a million tiny pieces of death every time I decide to breathe. 

But no, yesterday it felt like home.

I never thought that I would miss the continual rain of the Pacific Northwest, but this has become my reality.

I was walking to class dressed in the highly fashionable clothing native to Washington, that is socks and sandals, ripped jeans, a baggy v neck t-shirt and a sloppy sweater, when I noticed a Chicagoan.

This woman was wearing high healed boots, multiple jackets, and jewelry that sparkled as the water hit it. 

She was sprinting as if being chased by the epitome of evil. She desperately grasped her hood and pulled it down so that not a single drop of water would get on her perfectly made up face.

I glanced, I smiled, and then I laughed. 

The rain should not be feared like some disease out for blood. 

The rain is clean. It's pure and beautiful. It makes things simple.

The rain brings life.

So, we should dance in it. We should puddle jump. We should look up to the heavens, pick out a single drop, and watch it as it plummets downward and meets its end upon our foreheads.

We should hear the pitter-patter of the rain falling against the pavement and marvel at it's power.

That one drop could have been poured into a class and served to the kinds of old. It could have been part of a downpour in Mozambique that forced families into their homes to sit and stare as their dirt road became a river. This little drop could have been a tear cried by a child a million miles away. 

To the lady in the heals, please don't run through the rain in fear. This rain is bringing life to Chicago,it does not threaten you. It is cleansing our streets and nourishing our gardens. In this form, it cannot hurt us. It can only wash the make up off of our faces.

It makes us beautiful.