It's raining and I'm wet!

Today as I was biking to the resource centre to run a gardening activity for the kids (seed balls! so fun) I got caught in the rain. A 30 minute bike ride in the rain meant that I got very wet. I was enjoying myself though (mostly) and thought as I biked along how folks in North America try to avoid the realities of the natural world as much as possible. We sit in cold buildings when the weather is hot and we sit in super warm buildings when it is freezing cold outside. We avoid the elements as much as we can especially rain and snow. I was thinking about this because I was thinking how odd I would look arriving soaking wet to lead the children's gardening program.

The thought that ran through my head was: I am wet because it is raining, dammit! And I am actually feeling quite good; it's okay to get a little wet. As I biked fast in the rain singing to myself I felt so intensely ALIVE. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to avoid getting soaked by the rain. Tonight, in fact, I am staying home because I don't want to be cold and wet.  But I wish it wasn't so weird to bike in the rain; I wish people were more willing to experience the heat, the cold, the snow, the rain, etc. or at least that we were more willing to deal with them in ways that do not use obscene amounts of fossil fuels (driving cars all the time, using air conditioning, overheating our homes, etc).

When I got home, with my still damp jeans and wet hair, my warm apartment and my cup of tea felt amazing! Way more amazing than if I had stayed home and stayed dry!