On Days Like This...

It's raining again and the grayness, cold and wet are all around me. When I look out my window, I shiver and wonder who would relish in tramping outside on a day like today.

Then, faintly a gray image of a day like today, years ago comes to mind. I recall walking in the early morn along train tracks with a friend. We were cold and thankful we had our coats on. I remember folding my fingers in the sleeves of my coat and wishing that my nose would regain feeling. It was a pleasant morning in White Rock despite the weather, no one was out on the street or down on the beach yet. It was so quiet except for the quiet rushing of the ocean, the crunching of our feet on the tracks and our hushed voices. We talked of many things; friendship, religion, love, flowers, future plans and time. I don't remember what else. I just remember that it was a meeting of minds in an environment that promoted thoughts and feelings being said. Coming away, I always thought of my friend as a kindred spirit and a great conversationalist.

Another memory comes to mind after I look out my window, sigh and take another sip of my cider. I remember being forced to go for a walk/hike on a day that very soon became ominously black and began to rain. You'd think that the rain and cold would make us head back to our car and go home to a comfort and warmth not immediately known in the woods. Fortunately, we were under the canopy of the tall trees and the rain hit us very gently. We continued on and were treated to a experience that I have tried to recapture many times. The air slightly chilled with a cool mist that invigorated our lungs and our hike turned into an adventure of ethereal wonderment.

Sights that seemed ordinary took on a look of magical realness. The forest soil made dark with decaying wood smelled wonderfully fragrant. Small flowers and fungi that clung to ancient tree trunks seemed to open up and grow before us. Curling new ferns, neon green to the dark emerald green of the fully grown reached out for the rain to take a drink. Moss of every sort on the trees and forest floor added a delightful display of colour. Our path crossed with roots of trees reaching for the sky. And all being covered with a dewy mist that got caught in every leaf, flower and blade of grass it found. Everything looked like it was veiled in tiny diamonds. I don't know if anyone remembers this day, but I do know that on that day we moved through the forest quietly, silently awed by the beauty around us.

I guess every once and a while I need to remind myself that the rain a good backdrop for many, many precious memories.