Cats, Dogs and Dinosaurs
When she about 4 years old, my daughter must have heard me describe the rain in terms of ‘cats and dogs’. Somehow she coined her own version when she surprised me on a really bad stormy day with, “Look mommie – it’s raining cats, dogs and dinosaurs!”
Since the weekend, the heavens have given way to a deluge, drenching the northeastern part of the United States. In Manhattan, we’d have more than 10 inches of rain since Saturday. And based on forecasts, it seems we won’t be expecting Mr. Sunshine soon.
On Wednesday I hopped out of my bus just as the skies broke loose a dense and heavy curtain of rain. I gripped my umbrella close to my head to keep it from being blown away by the wind but it was useless. It felt as though the rain was going sideways. Despite just being 15 steps away from the bus stop, by the time I made it to the entrance of my office building I had looked like I just stepped out of the shower. My suit was drenched, my shoes was squishy when I walked and best of all, the hair that took me half an hour to dry and style with a curling iron was soaked, straight as a stick and lay totally lifeless against my scalp. It was enough reason to call it a day at 8:30 AM and head back home but when I got to the office….voila - everyone else looked as bad as I did or worse! Better still, some of the women looked really monstrous because instead of flattening out, their hair curled like a fur ball. So those totally made me feel much better. But to cheer everyone up, I put my ipod on the computer and started playing music from the Beach Boys.
For lunch on Thursday, two friends and I had planned to sample the very popular Peruvian Food Festival at our headquarters and we also decided that the rains weren’t going to stop us. We walked a short block and a half and by the time we were seated and the waiters had asked us what we wanted (for drinks I understood later) our reply in unison was: a hairdryer!
The Italian finds it amusing that I can humor myself despite how depressing our weather had been. I told him there was just no other way to deal with it. I could have tried screaming at the heavens but I was sure my voice would be drowned by the howling winds. And besides, when you start allowing the weather to dictate how you should feel about your day then you know you are in desperate need of some sanity check.
I have found my raincoat packed in my scarf drawer (go figure). I have my trusty umbrella that opens and shuts automatically and tomorrow I am on a mission to purchase for myself a pair of galoshes. I don’t care if I look like a 3 year old on my way to school with my get up but I will arrive at my destination dry and happy – despite cats, dogs, dragons, dinosaurs and elephants pouring from the skies.