Rain Rookie

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but I am one for making changes. Since I work at home, I've been thinking of ways to get out of the house more. While I enjoy the long walks that I try to take daily with Zsa Zsa (in case you don't know, that's our dog) the rainy season has put a bit of a halt on that. See, Zsash is not one for walking in the rain. She gets as close as an open front door, does a quick sniff outside, and promptly turns around and heads back inside. Consequently, that means my daily walks are beginning to dwindle.

Instead of waiting for Zsash to accompany me on a nice stroll out in the rain, I took a page from my New York handbook and decided to walk to my errands. Granted, when I lived in New York my errands were typically within five blocks of my home and maybe within one Avenue. Not so bad. Here my errands are within about 15 to 20 blocks depending on where I need to go. Still, not really an issue. I should mention it does rain here a lot and it's often a bit of a perpetual mist. I'm not sure that it's the amount Seattle gets, but then again I haven't lived in Seattle.

There's been some rain today - mist, rain, mist, slashing rain, more mist - but I can handle the elements. I set out to run my errands on foot with a plastic re-usable bag, warm puffy rain-resistant jacket, and even an umbrella (just in case - though admittedly I do my best to avoid umbrellas). At first it was a bit of a mist, which turned into sideways sheets of rain. At this point, I was already seven blocks into my journey - not quite close enough to turn back. The rain got worse, but I was staying fairly dry. Too bad my head was freezing. The rain slowed down a bit and I'm just a couple of blocks from my destination and I accidentally break Zsash's cardinal rule: Avoid puddles at all costs. Foiled!

On the walk home through a mild mist wearing drenched socks and wet sneakers, with bag of groceries heavy on my shoulder and umbrella swaying side to side flicking drops of water on my pants I realized a few vital tips that could have made this experience a bit better:

• A hat is always good 
• There's a reason people wear rain boots
• Gloves are necessary if using an umbrella
• An extra bag is never a bad thing 

I'm glad to be armed with this knowledge since I really don't mind the rain. I just can't believe it took me this long to figure out.