Some days I sit and wonder how so much time has passed between my childhood years and adulthood. I mean to be fair, I was child just yesterday (yesterday being close to 36 years ago). There are those moments when black and white memories turn into vivid memories full of laughter, dreams, and adventure. In today's society, very few kids have the motivation to play or venture outside to use their imaginations, it's easier to stay glued to a phone in order to snapchat, Instagram, or do whatever is trendy by society's standards.
My childhood was made up of games like freeze tag, tag, four square, tetherball, dodgeball, duck duck goose, simon says, and my all time favorite hide n seek. For years, we would come home from school, unpack our backpacks, kiss mom on the cheek and then run off until it was time to come home for dinner. The very first time, I kissed a girl was during hide n seek (I was seeking and she was earnestly hiding)!
Recently, I found myself visiting my friend Pat and his family who reside in Multyfarnham, Ireland; my traveling family member Ricky Bobby, ol' Mr. Shake N Bake himself took the flight with me to drop in on our dear friends.
On one particular morning, we found ourselves in Pat's house wondering what we should do with ourselves since we didn't want to send Pat's wife crazy with our bottled energies! We figured that we had a few options, either drinking Guinness early in the morning (which in Ireland isn't a bad idea), driving an hour away to Dublin and milling around the city, or braving the possibility of rain in order to see some of the picturesque sights in and around Multyfarnham.
Over the course of time, I've always been the hesitant one when it comes to playing the elements only because I'm not a fan of being cold or getting dirty IF it's not requirement; however today felt a bit different, today the wind and mist hit my face as it used to when I was a kid. "Yeah, let's go, if my shoes get dirty they'll get dirty."
The idea of being abroad and exploring something new always excites me, I'm not one who wants to experience what everyone else has already experienced, I'm always craving something new/different. As we set out for our adventure, I felt a sense of excitement in the air because Bobby and me weren't being the typical tourist or "Americans" and as we said to Pat, "We'll be fine, it's only a little rain."
During the course of our little adventure, Pat took us to places which meant something to him and that in itself was more than gold! For close to three hours, we explored parts of the county which were more picturesque than I had initially anticipated. IF you know me, you know that my camera is always close beside me and that I'm always looking for something unique to capture; come to find out, Pat is also a tinker-man in the sense that he's a true photographer and out for the unique as well.
Towards the end of our adventure, we walked in a bit of a downpour and Pat asked if we wanted to retreat back to the car due to how much rain was coming down on us but Bobby and me laughed a bit and said again, "We're good, it's only rain."
You see, life is funny because there was that part of me which was truly thinking about my wet socks, shoes and bag but there was also the deciding part of me which truly wondered what was at the end of this path. Pat had told us there was a lake but I wasn't quite ready for the view which we'd have once we made it to the opening of the path. Now, I've been to dozens of lakes but for some reason, this view was different, the air felt different. I stood for a moment and thought about all that had transpired throughout the course of the day and I thought about how far we'd come despite the rain, I also thought about how far we still had yet to go once the rain stopped as well.
Just because it's raining, doesn't mean you need an umbrella or have to fear getting a bit wet per se; we all must learn to enjoy the rainy day(s).
