"Friends" You Meet Along the Way

Well well, it's raining, has been for a week, YEA!  I love the rain, my plants love the rain, our yard loves the rain, the lake loves the rain.  It's wonderful.  And I love running in the rain, especially when it's a nice slow rain with no lightening or thunder close by.

This morning it was raining as Terry and I went out for our run at 5:30 AM.  Terry only had to do 4 but I had 6 so we ran from the square out to the airport and back and then he left and I went on and finished my last two miles.  I love running with Terry, it gives us a chance to visit without interruption and distraction.  Something every married couple needs.

After Terry left to go home and I was left alone I began to listen to the sounds of the rain.  There are so many sounds the rain makes, or maybe more accurately the sounds the rain makes as it hits the surfaces around you.  It's like a symphony, these sounds should be in competition with each other but instead  they make beautiful music.  I could hear the drops hitting the pavement, the drops hitting water in the curb, drops hitting tin roofs, drops hitting composite roofs, drops hitting wood, drops hitting tree leaves, grass, trash cans, cars, dirt, water running down the curbs and running down drain pipes, water running off of roofs and that is only to name a few.  Once I let me mind go to really allow me to listen it was an amazing chorus of peaceful yet forceful sound that came together in wonderful harmony.  I will cherise this morning and relive it's music often.

Listening intently I was a bit oblivious to my surroundings but at some point I got a whiff of the dreaded SKUNK.  It was very strong and I supposed he was very close.  I had my headlamp on and I began to look into the yards as I was coming up on them, assuming the skunk would be in the grass.  I went about a block and the smell got heavier I knew he had to be close but I still could not see him.  And then movement caught the corner of my eye, I thought a white peice of paper was floating in the gutter which by now was a small river.  As I shifted my eyes to the moving object I realized it was a small skunk, and I was running right by him.  And I do mean right by, 2 or 3 feet from my feet, there he was.  I think he must have been drinking from the water in the gutter.  Of course I jumped 5 or 6 feet to the right to get well out of his way although if he had wanted to get me it would have been done by then!  All was well as he did not attempt to spray.  I did, however, change my route on the way back as there is  no sense in tempting fate.