Thursday, April 28, 2011

Rain, rain and more rain

Here in the Midwest, we boast about our seasons. My husband and I run outdoors all year long. We run in the winter when it is 10 degrees below zero and a -25 wind chill. We bundle up so all that can be seen is our eyes, we put drywall screws in the soles of our running shoes and we brave the ice and snow and wind. We run in the summer when it is 100 degrees with buckets of moisture hanging in the air and the humidity is 90%. And of course we run in the spring and fall when it seems perfect, albeit a bit windy. In the spring, after the snow has melted those first few days of warm sun are heavenly and in the fall after a summer of heat radiating off the pavement, those first few cool breezes are so welcome. I guess what I am saying is we are lucky, I think, to have a true winter, spring, summer and fall complete with their own joys. With E Man here now, we have to time these runs a bit more strategically and of course he hasn't been and won't be out in the windchill and heat of the day. (Come on, now. I may like to be outside but I have a bit of mom common sense.) In the same token though, I want him to learn that just because the weather isn't perfect doesn't mean that you have to stay indoors. Luckily for us (usually) he is a babe that wants to be out and moving. He is a fuss-budget from about 5 pm until bedtime but if we can get him out in the stroller, or the backpack, or the Ergo, or just out walking holding his hands he is happy.
Recently, this has been more difficult as the rain has been coming down in very cold, very wet sheets. Finally, early this week, it turned into a drizzle! That was good enough for us. We broke out the hand-me-down hiking backpack from my uncle, put that little boy in, put his rain cover over his head and struck off down the street. I am sure that the neighbors thought we were crazy but we all needed out, even the doggies. Also, I spent a lot of money at the medical center on an education that taught me that wet heads and rain do not cause colds, germs do! And good thing, because E man kept leaning sideways out from under the cover to see what was going on which didn't keep him very dry.
We all got a bit wet but we had a nice walk and guess what?! Nobody melted!
Lesson: sometimes it's worth not waiting for the sun to create the perfect adventure

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