A change in the weather - and me

 

   It’s raining today.  It rained hard last night, and it rained pretty much all weekend. 

   I say good and that it’s about time.  I hope it keeps raining.  I hope we have another year like last year, when it rained an unusual amount, an extraordinary amount here in Southern California. 

   It feels really odd to be saying this. 

   For most of my life, I had mixed feelings at best about rain.  I knew that we needed the rain, and I enjoyed the cooler weather that usually came with rain, but it is very inconvenient to be out in the rain in a wheelchair.  For years, I would have a big rain poncho draped over me and my wheelchair and thought nothing of zipping all over town in my wheelchair in the rain come Hell or sometimes high water (but not too high, as I learned when water got into the motors and I got stuck a few times). I sometimes looked like a big tomato cruising along.  Or perhaps I was like the guy I saw one very rainy New Year’s Day as I was leaving Santa Cruz who was standing along the road in a nice bright poncho and no shoes.  (I once did something like this when I was in my teens or twenties and ended up with a lousy cold.  Maybe the Santa Cruz dude learned a similar lesson or – sadly more likely – maybe he needed help and hopefully got it).

   After a long while, when I was in my fifties, I got tired of going out like a madman in the rain, and the rain became even more of a bother.  Now it meant I couldn’t go out on my own, without getting a ride in my van, and I hated it.  I literally cursed it. 

   Even when I was okay with good out in the rain in my chair, I preferred it when it wasn’t raining and I didn’t have to deal with a big, bulky, wet poncho, steamy glasses, etc. Rain was a pain.  I guess this was a primary reason I felt lucky to live in SoCal. 

   But things changed – Boy! Did they! – after I had spinal surgery almost seven years ago.  It is now harder for me to get out.  It takes more work and energy and is often a chore, even when I want to.  So now, it’s nice when there’s an excuse, like the rain, and I don’t feel bad or angry about not going out, like I’m missing out (unless I have to and go in my van). Who knew I would one day be grateful for the rain for making it okay to be lazy!