100 Days of Happy Day 6

I moved to Seattle in the beginning of November. It was raining the day I settled in to my apartment in Queen Anne. It proceeded to rain the next day and the day after that, and every single day for two weeks straight. The sky was the perpetual bruisy-gray I’ve since come to know so very well... All day and all night streams, fountains, rivers of water poured off the roof, into the street, onto the bare trees. I sat inside and wondered when it would stop so I could go for a run. I looked at the dark tumultuous sky and hoped for a shred of blue, but it did not come. In desperation I went for a drive. I ended up in West Seattle as the rain continued to dump. My windshield wipers were cranked up to the max, pumping and swishing water that seemed neverending . That *was* neverending. I was blanketed under the dark clouds… When the f*ck would this stop, I wondered? I cried in my car. A really good cry. It was never going to stop. This was Seattle. And I had moved here. Purposefully. I was raised in SoCal. I spent summers on the beach. Heck, I spent winters on the beach. What the hell was I do doing here? I made a resolution then. I would go home and run. I would put on my ball cap and my jacket and even if it was dumping, I would go out. I also told myself that I would try to appreciate what Seattle had to offer, which was the most spectacular trees I had ever seen… and bodies of water that sparkled at sunset even when it was raining. I did it. I ran down Highland Drive at dusk while it was raining. There was a tree growing on that street that I made a concerted effort to appreciate. It was old and thick with droopy branches. It was beautiful. I was wet but my heart was going and I enjoyed myself. And that was the day things changed. Do I get upset when it rains non-stop here? Sometimes. But most of the time I can go outside and find a huge slice of beauty to sink my teeth into… And sometimes, even in late February, the sky surprises me, and instead of dark gray, is bright brilliant blue. The beauty around me never ever disappoints. It always makes me happy.