The Rain...

The name of the grade school I went to was All Saints. It was an old building with it's own church on the same lot. It was a very small school that held grades K-8 in one building. I didn't go to Kindergarten there. My Dad was stationed in Germany then so I went to Kindergarten on the american base in Wiesbaden.

I graduated 8th grade with 7 other kids. Yup. That's right. There were 8 kids in our 8th grade class all together. Would you believe I still talk to most of them on occasion? I then went to Dowling Catholic High School with over 400 kids. Cutlure shock to this shy kid? That would be an understatement. I spent the first semester in various stages of panic. The last panic attack I had was the first time I seperated from my now ex. It was not pretty. I was on the phone with Mom at the time. She talked me through it. Not a memory I want to talk about so moving on...

Where I *was* going with this, was the first time I ever danced in the rain. I was in the third grade. My teacher's name was Sister Marie. She was one of the nicer nuns. It was Sister Francis that made a failed attempt at trying to get me to write with my right hand. She did get me to straighten out my left hand though. I don't write like normal southpaws. My hand doesn't curve. We can thank the ruler thwapping for that.

We were outside for recess one day, and it started to rain. To try and give you a visual, the church and the school sit parallel to each other with a wide slab of concrete between them. There was a box for four square and a couple of hop scotch areas and a jungle gym behind the church. On the other side of the school building was another big slab of concrete where we'd play all the games for P.E.. Tether ball, dodge ball, that big parachute thing, kick ball, etc. You weren't "supposed" to go over there during recess. *side eye*

Sooooo....when the rain started, guess where I was? I wanted to be able to dance where no one could see me. Now, keep in mind this was before I even started taking actual classes. I didn't want anyone to make fun of me, so I'd go off and dance where no one could see. Unbeknownst to me, when the rain started, Sister Marie stood in the doorway of the classroom ( Her room had it's own seperate entrance) and called all the kids in. Not entirely sure why she didn't find it odd at all that there was a child missing. lol

I remember so vividly this moment, that I can even tell you that I had on a knit rainbow striped top and that those stripes were horizontal and not vertical. I have no idea why I remember that detail, other than it was one of my favorite tops because the purple in it was the brightest color of all of the stripes. I was out by the tether poles dancing and singing when the rain started. I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I didn't realize that it was in fact raining. Then...it started POURING. Any normal third grade girl would run squealing inside. Not me. I've never really fit "the mold". I have ALWAYS been a misfit. Still am. Only now, people call it being a leader. I just call it being me.  A work in progress.

The second it started pouring.....I danced all over the entire black top, belting out Singing in the Rain. and the crowning moment was when I ran toward the tether ball pole, swinging around it like Gene Kelly. Then I splashed in 7, yes, 7 whole puddles! Working my way towards the church when all of a sudden I noticed there was no one else outside. Oops.

So I went back to the classroom and knocked on the door. Sister Marie opened the door, took one look at me, grabbed me by the arm and yanked me inside. The kids who weren't laughing were sinking into their chairs, embarassed for me. I didn't care. Up until that moment, I was the happiest kid on earth.

To this day......put me in the rain and let me dance.......and I'm the happiest kid on earth.

And the day I *finally* find someone who loves to dance in the rain as much as I do........I'll be the happiest woman on earth.




Note: I want to dance to this song with someone in the rain...... http://youtu.be/b1B5FP8LKlQ