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Rain has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks...
Was lying in bed, trying to drift off to sleep, lamenting my inability to think of a subject suitable for "telling"...a "Julie story". It was one of our many rainy nights of late and the elements finally spoke to me...
Julie loved rain!
When most people (including yours truly) would take off running with the first drops of rain, Julie would pause...lifting her face skyward...letting the drops land on her face...enjoying the experience. Julie would chastise me for scurrying for cover, my response being that "hair impaired" folks like myself got the dramatic impact of raindrops much more quickly than well endowed folks like herself. She didn't buy it!
When we would get home (or if we were already home), Julie would go to the back door, open it, and spend quite a bit of time just looking out at the rain.
Julie often remarked that she would like to live in Seattle, noted for its rainy weather. Her wishes were briefly sated when the National Education Association sent her to Seattle on one of her "presentation gigs"...and, yes, much to her delight, it rained. (I know, because she called me and told me so!)
Julie loved Hawaii, for the same reasons that most people loved Hawaii, but also because of the frequent afternoon showers...the Heaven-sent variety, not those provided in the hotel or condo. Mount Waialeale, on the island of Kauai (Julie's favorite, of course), is often called the wettest spot on Earth, with an annual average rainfall of 444 inches! Hawaii even provided the proper atmosphere for Julie's experience...sunshine immediately before and after...and even DURING many of the rain showers. Rain was happiness to Julie...NOT dark and depressing.
And, yep, one of Julie favorite movies was "Singin' in the rain". That was another time Julie called me from one of her road adventures...a trip to New York. She related that she had left her hotel for lunch at a deli, and that while there, it started to rain. After she finished eating, she started to walk down Broadway back to her hotel a couple of blocks away. As it started once again to rain, the New Yorkers routinely popped open their umbrellas or ducked into nearby stores. Not my girl! Julie stops, looks up...and smiles. Julie decides it's time to do her Gene Kelly routine. Yes, in keeping with the motto on her headstone...Julie danced...in the rain, complete with splashing in the puddles. Julie related over the phone how passer-bys simply glanced at her, gave a little laugh, and made sure they didn't get soaked!
Many a day that the practical Ronnie and the whimsical Julie "clashed" over the rain. If I heard the rain start to fall, I would dutifully go around and check the windows to make sure they were closed. When I entered the room where Julie was, I knew what would happen; Julie would say "Leave the window open...I like the rain." Until I learned better, I would sensibly point out that the rain would get the wall and floor wet. Julie's typical retort..."So?" Our compromise was that I was allowed to lower the window maybe halfway and place bath towels on the floor under the window.
One of Julie's symptoms of her health problems was a constant low-grade fever. As such, we would run the central air from March to early November, when the furnace would take over. So, open windows for us became moot...unless it rained! Yep, Julie would get out of bed, walk over to the window, and open it. Without saying a word, I would go to the bathroom, get the towels, and weatherize the wall and floor.
Incidentally, atmospheric lighting and sound effects WERE preferred...aka, lightning and thunder...the closer and more frequent the better!
AND...many the time that Julie tried to get me to walk in the rain with her. As I indicated above, at the first drops of rain, Julie stops...I run. Hey, every MAN for himself! Julie would try to coax me back out of my hiding place...I protesting, using my "hair impaired" argument. Julie would finally relent and reluctantly join me in shelter.
Some of you may remember, it rained on the days surrounding Julie's passing and funeral. (No...not going to get into any doo dee doo dee stuff...yet.) Practical Ronnie begins worrying about a funeral in the rain...messy, to say the least. I can't even say truthfully that it even crossed my mind that rain would be very appropriate for Julie's funeral. I just worried.
On the day of the funeral itself, I considered it a blessing when the sun popped out and attentees did not have to worry about getting soaked to pay their final respects.
On the drive to the cemetery, it did begin to sprinkle. I turned to Rachel and said "Well, Julie may get her wish after all." Rachel looked at me quizzically and I explained. "Julie always wanted me to walk in the rain with her...and I would run off. She knows she's got me this time. If it rains while we are carrying the casket to the grave site, Julie knows there's no way I'm leaving her side." Well, in the end, Julie, as usual, took "pity" on her Ronnie (and everyone else). It didn't rain at the cemetery.