Playing in the rain

When's the last time you played in the rain? Splashed in a mud puddle?

I did Sunday. The weather had been misty off and on all day and the skies opened up shortly after dark. I couldn't help myself -- I took off, running down the dirty old lane where my house sits.

I live outside of town, isolated in what the real estate agent called a "rustic cabin" but many people would call a shack. That's okay. I'm not hung up on labels. It's a solid, good house that's looking kind of drab, though I'm brightening it up little by little.

Like I said, it's isolated, on an old dirt road that eventually ends at a creek. When the rainfall began I jumped up and ran -- no flashlight, no illumination of any kind -- just me, the rain and the dark.

That's when I found the big old mud puddle. I stumbled when I passed through, and for a moment had visions of sliding face-down across the mud. Thankfully I regained my balance, then returned to the puddle and danced and jumped and had a grand old time.

Soon my clothes were plastered to me like a second skin. I didn't care. I felt like a kid, and I can't wait for another storm.

Go ahead, give it a try. Next time it rains in your part of the world, go outside. Take a walk, a run, skip along, and if you're lucky enough to find a puddle or two stomp in them. Splash the water. And remember what it was to be a kid.