Precipitation

I started this blog when we were in the middle of one of the longest rainy periods in Seattle. Today it is raining like that again. While our summer hasn't been too out of ordinary with plenty of warm days followed by some cool ones, today's rain feels like a welcome relief. Wash and rinse cycle for the atmosphere.

The precipitation has made everyone in this house relax. Even Rubin is sacked out on his bed behind my chair. Ann took a nap on the couch while I tried to do the same in the TV room, but I got sucked into a cheesy movie and just laid on the couch drifting in and out, but never really sleeping. Ann is now watching the original Moby Dick movie starring Gregory Peck waiting for the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

Strange that I'd talk about the weather. It's something you'd expect strangers to talk about, not something I'd write about in my journal, but I like the rain and it feels very much apart of me today.

My new job is going well though I'm not used to standing for 8 hours in a day. Yes, teaching required a lot of standing, but mostly a lot of moving and there were times in the day when I could sit down for a short length of time. No such thing at REI. Well, I get my two 15 minutes breaks and my 30 minute meal time, but the break room is down 5 flights of winding stairs and then back up again so often find myself going up the one flight to the restroom on the top floor of the store. Still, my legs are sore from the multiple climbs in a day that I do make up and down the stairs.

And they are tired from standing.

My feet, too.

I inherited my mother's feet. Not only in length and narrowness, but now in my developing bunion. It popped out just the other day and since then I've been wearing "sturdy" shoes in hopes to avoid anything more debilitating.

This is what getting old consists of these days -- a flu that turned into a sinus infection and now a cough that won't go away, a swollen heal, a protruding bunion, and the inability to sleep in one position for more than an hour, even under the influence of Benadryl or Tylenol PM. You'd think the cooler, wetter weather would negatively influence my aches and pains, but frankly, it feels good, like a salve from the skies.

Plus it gives me permission to not do anything significant today. We walked Rubin to the dog park earlier where he romped in the lake and stole the toys of every other dog there. If it were a playground, he would be considered the bully, snatching away fancier toys than the ones we bring along.

But now we're all moving slowly. Gregory Peck is ordering his crew around, cursing god and the white whale while the rain beats and strums the roof, the gutters, the drain pipes, the leaves of the yellowing maple tree, and resonates inside of me today.

Wash and rinse, wash and rinse, wash and rinse.