The rain, falling gently, lets an old guy feel lazy without feeling guilty

            I’VE BEEN LAZY this week. It’s not for any physical reason. It’s just the rain.

            I’ve always liked rain. When I was in college I had an apartment on High Street in Oxford, Ohio. It was above a clothing store and had a bay window. I had a chair in the window and on rainy days I’d sit there with the window open, a book in my lap and my pipe lit. (Note: I was an English major and for men it was required you light a pipe when reading the classics.)

            I’d read, and listen to the cars swishing on the street, the sounds of the rain. Those moments stick with me. So do others. When we lost our house in a tornado we spent six months in a tenant house on a pig farm while we were rebuilding. The house had a tin roof and the rain on the roof would put me to sleep.

            So, when the rains started falling early one day this week I opened the windows, opened the door to the patio so I could see all my flowers and just kicked back in my recliner. I read, did crosswords, just let the morning drift away to the soft pitter-pat. Later I took a nap, but mostly just half-slept with the windows open, listening.

            I’m talking about a certain kind of rain here. Not the sort friends and family are experiencing in Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, Tennessee as Hurricane Helene moves inland. Not the kind that causes flash flooding and mudslides.

            I’m talking about the quiet and comforting sort Mother Nature sends when she wants to quietly sooth living creatures and gently water her lands. I’m talking about the soft falling drops that are a part of rebirth, of regeneration.

            Most of all I’m talking about the kind  of rain that allows and old man to be lazy for a day without making excuses, without any pangs of guilt. 

            The best part of this week’s rainy day? It was followed up by a second one. Life doesn’t get any better.      

                  Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].