LET THE KID OUT AND SQUEAL!

Some people spend their energy in looking for perfection in everyday life.  Not me.  Life has been anything but perfect in my world, but that does not mean it has not been wonderful!  Another example of that happened this weekend.  

I spent the weekend with a friend and his family.  We headed to Downingtown for the community festival which was going to end with a fireworks display.  As we headed toward Downingtown that morning, we hit a lot of rain.  There was some worry expressed about hoping the rain wouldn’t spoil the day.  “Not to worry,” I said, “We will have fun anyway!”  As we got closer to his family’s residence, the clouds lingered, but the rain broke and stayed that way until we headed toward the Downingtown Festival.

As we walked the festival street, off in the distance, we noticed the dark clouds of an incoming storm.  It appeared that it might go around us at first.  More and more people gathered with their lawn chairs in anticipation of the fireworks to come.

As dark set in and the storm clouds threatened we began to feel a drop or two of rain.  Suddenly we noticed the flare of the men setting off the fireworks.  As they began so did the rain.  At first, no one seems to know what to do…run or stay.  While some ran and some had begun to drive away, we stayed when, as the first explosion of fireworks hit the sky the rain came pouring down upon us. We got the clever idea of putting the chairs over our head.

But then in front of me were about four 7 or 8-year-old little girls who began to squeal with delight at the rain coming down on their head and the explosion of color in the sky.  After a bit, I thought.I am going to be like those kids!  I dropped the chair and let the rain soak me like a drowned rat.  With the squeal of those little ones in front of me, I felt the joy of the moment fill me with the same wonderful excitement that would have been there even if the rain had not come.

Yes, I was soaked to the bone.  But you know, there are times when things don’t go quite as planned, we need to act like a kid and squeal with delight at the moment at hand.  Nothing was lost in standing in the rain.  In fact, it was fun to just let it all hang out there…if there had been music, I think I would have started dancing!  

It was a wonderful day that ended in a funny, delightful way, and the truth is, I wouldn’t have changed a thing!