Moving to Portland in the middle of the very long rainy season and expecting the worst was actually a good thing. That first winter/spring, there were sunbreaks almost every day, and though it truly does rain more often than not between October and June, it's a fine drizzle that doesn't really impede people's activities. Everyone just slaps on a a rainjacket with a hood and goes about their business.
Houston rain is another issue entirely. When we have thunderstorms, we get inches of rain in a matter of hours. It's the kind of rain that defies the use of an umbrella and a rainjacket. After a year of the biggest drought in hundreds of years, we've had our typical rainfall this fall and winter. Remembering the drought and the fires makes it a little harder to complain about the inconvenience of the rain.
Driving home from Bible study (past the empty shopping center parking lots, since a really bad thunderstorm is about the only thing that keeps the busy suburbanites home), I drove past this pasture (right in the midst of the suburban sprawl -- yet another unique and interesting Houston fact of life).
These horses were wet. Noticeably really wet. They had been standing in the rain for 3 hours. But they continued on -- eating, waiting to air dry, enjoying little horsie fellowship. There are times that my plans get interrupted. Lunch dates have to be rescheduled, leisure time takes a back seat to work or meeting others' needs or something. But rain is good. The Maker of man, horses, rain, and even droughts knows this. I'm trying to learn to be flexible -- to go with the flow. Maybe the next time my fur is ruffled, I'll think of the complacent wet horses, moving on with their life's work after the downpour.
