I like playing pretend and long walks in the rain

Today I walked in the rain (and the fact that it's raining in June sort of just proves that point I made yesterday about how I will never need to wear a bathing suit in northern California so I should just give up on weight loss now). I got off BART and, in an act of defiance, I didn't put up my umbrella. I let myself get wet. And I was really happy about it. It was truly one good thing that I did for myself today. Unlike the ice cream, I didn't feel guilty one bit. I just felt calm and happy and gleeful, like I was breaking a rule that was meant to be broken. And completely in the moment.

I don't know if I ever thought about it before, but walking in the rain is a fully immersive experience. It combines visual and tactile stimulation. The feel of rain on your skin mixes with the look of rain into a fantastic full body experience. (That came out raunchy somehow, which is weird because I just meant that the rain is nice.)

I'm reading a book called "The Happiness Project" and it's all about finding things that make you happy (I have more to say about this book, but that is for a different, more ambitious post). I just read the chapter on how to incorporate more fun into your life and the author suggests that you should do the things you found fun as a child. She then launches into a description of how she used to make collages and scrapbook type projects.

I used to walk in the rain. Or run in it. Or sit in it until I was completely soaked. I used to go out on the trampoline (we had one of those giant ones) and lie down and let the rain hit me. I would watch it bounce off the trampoline. I would jump up and down and the water would bounce with me and it would feel like it was raining up and down. I used to pretend. I told myself stories and acted them out. I was often found talking to myself in the backyard, telling a story. I went to made up lands in my head. This lasted well into my teens. I was a weird kid really. It's amazing, and lucky, that no one made fun of me.

The author of this book talks about how she found other people who shared her interests and started meeting with them weekly. She talks about how she re-incorporated her childhood hobbies into her life. Somehow I find it unlikely that I will find a group of adults like me who like to play pretend and sit in the rain. (Although, I'm sure I could find such a group. I'm just not sure I would want to hang out with people who play pretend. I mean sitting in the rain and talking to yourself are generally signs of insanity. I might end up spending my nights with dungeon and dragons players or groups of role players. Which would be ok, but that isn't exactly what I am looking for. Or I would be spending my nights with seven year olds. Which would maybe be more my speed. But I digress as usual).

Still, today I found my happy place. I felt so completely happy as I walked in the rain, for all of one block, that I forgot all the things that made me upset today.

I was going to post about how the advent of the bluetooth has made it impossible to tell if someone is talking to themselves in a crazy manner or if they are talking on the phone. (Seriously, you only need to get yelled at about Jesus once... after that you cross the street at the first sign of insanity). I had a whole funny speech prepared about the topic. But then I walked in the rain and it seemed like that was actually a better thing to talk about. It's supposed to rain tomorrow too, so I have high hopes for a repeat performance.