I am drenched.
I had laundry on the clothesline. Some shirts for work — casual, solid color, button down collars. And towels. The morning was bright, sunshiny. The weather forecast called for late afternoon thunderstorms. I had time; I could get the laundry in before rains fell.
Then, the sky turned black and ominous.
At least, I assume it did. I didn’t even notice.
Instead, I was in the bathroom, and I heard something. It sounded like rain, falling against the roof.
Surely not! I thought. I looked outside the window.
Great sheets of rain fell from the sky.
Fortunately, I had my sandals on. I dashed outside to take down the clothes. Cold rain fell in large, heavy drops.
I went for my clothes first; they had been on the line the longest, and they were nearly dry anyway. I took those down, ran them inside, threw them on the kitchen table, and went back for the towels.
By this time, the rain fall was truly heavy, as though I were standing under a shower nozzle on full blast.
The towels needed to go in the drier anyway.
I stood under the rain, like Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, arms outstretched, looking up into the sky as drops fell.
And I became completely drenched.
Everyone should do this once in their lives, to just stand in the rain and let it fall against you and cleanse everything away.
It’s often said that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. As what could be more appropriate for summer than a random, improbable, summer afternoon sudden rainstorm?