Hug a Raindrop Today

Monsoon life is quickly coming to an end. It’s not raining every day and already the temperature is cooler in the evening.
Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with some friends for lunch. As I walked outside it was raining but because it was only a sprinkle I thought that I could outrun it. It always rains in Boudha and sometimes once you get to the other side of town the sun is shining. This however did not happen yesterday…it was the opposite actually. The closer I got to the other side of town the harder it rained. By the time I arrived at the restaurant I was soaked. At least I was in good company for my friends drive scooters as well and they got caught in the rain just like me.

As we took off our helmets and jackets my friends stopped and looked at me. They pointed to my shirt and said, “this is all your fault” That day I had decided to wear my “Hug a Raindrop” shirt. I purchased the shirt in honor of living in the Portland metro area.

Sitting at the restaurant swapping stories we hoped that the rain would die down before we moved on to our next appointments. Two O’clock rolled around and the rain was nowhere near stopping. We all donned our gear, took a picture, and headed back out into the rain.

I was off to language school with the hopes that the rain would stop during my two-hour class….again this did not happen; in fact I’m pretty sure it started raining harder. My teacher was gracious and we sat drinking green tea for an hour praying that rain would stop long enough for us to go out. My teacher had to leave for a birthday party so we were both forced to go out into the rain yet again.

My drive home seemed to take forever. It just kept raining and raining and all the while I was cursing my stupid Hug A Raindrop shirt. Then, as if mother nature was mocking me on my head phones (yes I listen to my i-pod while I drive) the song “Umbrella” came on. The words “you can stand under my umbrella ella ella ella” were like cruel cruel joke.
Because of the heavy rains and flooding my rain soaked journey home took an hour. By the time I reached home I was chilled to the bone and headed strait to the hot shower. If I were superstitious I would probably never wear that raindrop shirt again.