Dancing in the Rain (Then Hugging a Tree) When I met my now husband Scott, I was pretty uptight. I forgot my purse in his car on our first date and thought I was going to lose my mind because I was not sure where it was. I was very nervous about what everyone though of me and how I was perceived. I was not in a time of joy in my life, but I was ready to be. I had no intention of snagging a man, I just wanted to be true to myself. He showed up in my life at the right time for me, the support and kindness without trying has always been evident. I am a better person because of the independence he affords me. We can be together, and we can be apart. We can have good times and hard times. In the season of our lives while we raised and cared for our boys, I reverted to needing a “plan”. I would fool myself and say that plan was flexible, that it just needed to be in place. I would totally lose it if I got completely unexpected news, no matter how small or large if I was caught off guard it was traumatic. I referred to the plan as carrying an umbrella so it wouldn’t rain. The just in case plan. This is not a fun way to live, it is about trying to be safe. Back to those days when we were dating, we went to a festival of some sort on Water Street in Milwaukee, near where he lived at the time. We could walk to events, and it was so fun. We went to see a band playing under a tent, in the street. We were dancing and enjoying the music, I can’t remember if the rain was expected or not, but we certainly had not planned for it. The lead singer yelled that they were supposed to stop playing because of the storm, but they were going o play as long as they could. It was a warm summer day like those we are having now. We enjoyed along with them and danced in the rain with no abandon. Later we arrived back at Scott’s apartment soaked to the bone, I had a big smile on my face and Scott proceeded to give me a shirt to wear while we dried my soaking wet shirt. I was ok and safe and happy. I embraced dancing in the rain with his support. Now I want to go back to embracing dancing in the rain, even though things have changed. I can find the new dancing in the rain. In the past year or so I have been working on myself and grounding is one of the things that helps me. I take off my shoes and walk in the grass, I stand and envision roots growing from the soles of my feet. I find ways to connect with the earth. I love the trees by our home and can be caught giving the one out front actual hugs. Recently I woke up in the middle of the night and went out in my pajamas to look at the stars and give the tree a hug sometime around 3am, I don’t even care if anyone saw me. It made me smile. I was on a walk with our dog Petey last week and ran into a neighbor walking with his 3 small children, the oldest maybe 3-4 years old was visibly having rough time and he acknowledged this and allowed her to do what she needed while we visited. She ran over to a neighborhood tree and hugged and circled the tree in a whimsical childlike way. He looked confused and I just felt a big smile pop onto my face, I said she needed some grounding. He just shrugged and smirked much like Scott would have and continued our conversation. I am happy we have good neighbors. I am happy that I can be childlike and love trees. I will continue to dance in the rain and hug trees, I will find ways to be happy.