Rain Exists

Seattlest carries an umbrella in our shoulder bag every single day. All summer long we carried it, even though we were experiencing the driest season ever recorded in Seattle. In mid July sometime, a friend from out of town made one of the lame, old Seattle Rain Jokes, and we forgot momentarily what he was talking about. Even the word was unfamiliar - "What is this 'rain' you speak of?"

We're more than ready for a thorough soaking right about now. It doesn't have to be a midwest-style downpour with lightning and hail (although that would be cool). A Seattle Rain will do just fine. Last night we laid in bed listening to it patter on the roof and really wanted to strip off our shirt and dance around outside. This morning we were disappointed to find that it wasn't still raining, but the wetness left behind was almost enough. We're jonesing for some rain over here and inhaling huge nostril-fulls of rain air only got us a small taste of what we're sure we'll soon be sick of.

The thing is, even if we had to walk around downtown in a biblical end-times rain storm, we would never reach for that umbrella. It just sits there in the bag, making it a little bit heavier every day. We count on that extra ten ounces pressing down on our shoulder to remind ourselves that we're generally glass-half-empty folk. Right now when we look at that umbrella, though, it's a sign of optimism. Who knows what could happen today? We could find a twenty on the pavement, our sportsball team could have one bounce their way, we could get an email from someone who desperately needs our assistance getting important funds out of Nigeria, it could rain.