“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” ~ Hermann Hess
Every year for probably 12 or 15 years now, Stacy and I go to the Berea Art Fair at Indian Fort Theater. We usually go on Friday, but I had some work duties this year, so we went today instead. As a bonus, Cassie and Kelly came down from Cincinnati to join us. We had no sooner gotten to the fair that the skies opened up…the first time. Earlier in the day, Cassie said we were expecting rain. “Oh, it won’t rain,” I said. “Stacy and I always manage to go well before or after the rains.” That had been true until today. Soaked to the bone, Stacy turned to me and said, “You put this out in the Universe, and look!” A young woman behind us, also looking like a wet cat, replied, “So this is your fault!” It was my fault.
Meanwhile, Kelly and Cassie had gotten to a tent a lot sooner than we did, and they were nice and dry all day except for their feet. Just to put an exclamation point on the moment, Stacy and I didn’t just get soaked once, but twice. There was some art shopping between the storms, so it wasn’t a complete washout. Stacy and I tried to get to the car before the second storm hit. There were so many people at the show this year (a good thing) that we had to park way across the road in a field… a field that, after the first deluge, had turned into a mud pit. I drive a Scion tc. It is a sporty car, not a four-wheel drive. We were probably 100 yards from the car when Heaven said, “You’re not getting off that easy! You said you always miss the rains. I’ll show you, little missy!” It started raining so hard that the car became a faint image, the surrounding hills were completely gone, and the mud and rain became deep quickly. We ran. It didn’t matter. See the photo below, and this was after I wiped my face off to drive. The glasses had to go.
Not a single dry inch on our bodies, Stacy and I forged ahead to meet Cassie and Kelly, first at the Artisan Center and then at Buc-ee’s. Cassie had not been to either, and we certainly could not let her come this far south and not have the Buc-ee’s experience. Buc-ee’s is never empty, but everyone else beating the rain was there, too. It was packed. Every gas pump was pumping. Every parking space was taken. There was a line of people waiting to take their picture with the Buc-ee bronze out front. We waited our turn, fearing we’d lose one another once inside or that storm number three would thwart our efforts. The look on Cassie’s face when she walked into Buc-ee’s to a horde of people and Buc-ee ware as far as the eye could see was worth every chaff on my wet thighs. This wasn’t the day we’d expected, but it was a great day for an adventure. And there’s never a bad day with my Rental Family.
Leave a Reply