(no subject)
I was walking home earlier, enjoying a cold bottle of chocolate soy milk when the rain fell. All I could think of was that my bag and volleyball shoes will be ruined if they got wet, so I finished my soy milk as quickly as I could and ran as hard and fast as the rain fell foolishly hoping to outrun a force of nature. I was soaked down to my underwear in a few moments. I gave up and slowed down to a jog.
When you grow up your take on a lot ofthings change - even on the most mundane of things like the rain. Ilike the rain well enough because it's easier to sleep when it's cooler, but it's a hassle when it soaks through your shoes and your clothes on a working day. Or when too much rain falls and it kills several people in some parts of the country. All I want to do these days when it rains is to whip my umbrella out and go somewhere dry.
That wasn't the case when I arrived home. As soon as got into the house I carefully eased my shoes andsocks out, placed my bag on the table, and went right back outside. I stood in the middle of the deserted street right across the house and savored the moment.
My body was warm from the run, but the rain cooled it down slowly. The feeling of sky water soaking through my hair and clothes and sliding down my nape and my back and all over my body was something I hadn't felt in years. It was crazy fun and it brought back only wonderful memories of childhood, with a younger me chanting “Bundak uwan! Bundak uwan!” at the sky and running barefoot in the streets rejoicing when the sky finally grants a little child's request.
I'm a big boy now. Lately, I've been losing a lot of sleep. I feel tired all the time. Every song I hear has a melancholy tune to it. But I'm still grateful. I was there, enjoying the rain freely in all its elemental glory. I'm alive. The rain reminded me so, and I remembered.
Even when I did not ask for the rain, the sky gave it anyway. Turns out that I needed it, after all.