When I was a little girl growing up in Trenton, NJ, I remember enjoying the rain with my Dad, and I remember my red galoshes. Trenton gets about 45 inches of rain each year and certainly has it's fair share of gray and wet days to go along with the gray clay soil.
I always remember my Dad loving rainy days. There was something special to him about the sound of the rain on the roof, the indoor activities we'd do on those days, and those priceless walks in the rain with our umbrellas and my red galoshes.
(We won't discuss the ping pong balls in the basement going into the sump pump or having to get out the push broom to push the water in the cellar over to the sump pump to begin with.)
I remember my Mom protesting with full anxiety about me getting my clothes wet, and my Dad calmly telling her not to worry; he'd clean me up. Off we'd go out the door, umbrellas in one hand and hand in hand in the other. Me at 3' and Dad at 6'3". Just walking and splashing and talking as if we had the world to ourselves.
Although my photography these days has me doing a lot of wishing for sunny days and blue skies, I still have a great fondness for those precious rainy days where the world seems secure with just me and my Dad walking in the rain.
Since Dad took all the pics at our house, there are no pics of me and him in the rain. Oh how I wish there were. There is a picture of me and the red galoshes, though.
Jump to the present...
It really poured while we were grocery shopping today, and as we drove home from Fuquay, Johnny started asking to go puddle splashing when we got home.
A few years ago, on a Blaze doggie walk after a big rain storm, Johnny happened to be with me, and he just happened to automatically do what all little kids do with puddles...jump in them whether Mom wants them to or not. It was like a blast back to the past as I ignored how wet he was getting and enjoyed how delighted he was with himself for getting wet in the puddles. A new tradition was born that day this time between a Mom and her son. Many rains and puddles since, the tradition lives on...
So, Johnny and I did end up out in the rain. I had the umbrella to protect my camera and my curls (ha!), and Johnny ran without a worry into every puddle he could find and enjoy. After 2.5", there certainly was no shortage of standing water. He started singing, and I continued with him several times, "Hi Ho Hi Ho It's off puddle jumping we go..."
Johnny even had a surprise today and discovered earth worms. This kid has no fear of insects and other critters outside.
I hope some day when I'm a Grandma I get an e-mail from Johnny with a picture he took of his little girl or boy out splashing in the rain puddles... And, the tradition will live on.
A super cute video of today's adventure is on YouTube.
All the pics from today are here. There are plenty more puddle splashing and jumping pics and a few more videos too.
My July 2009 blog post about Johnny in the puddles is here.
2 comments:
I made a point that Jacob's first rain boots should be red. Jacob wore them a couple years, then Timmy for a couple more. As of this summer, Timmy officially outgrew the red ones. The next pair is yellow and Jacob doesn't want any more rain galoshes :-(
Just one more link in the mystery of what clothing we need/don't need for our move to FL. I'll be selling off a ton of their snow-play clothes in October at a yard sale.
Cool, I didn't know you had a blog.
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