We’ve had a cold rainy couple seasons here in the Pacific Northwest, but today the sun has no barriers.  The morning is brilliant, sky pure blue, flowers bursting from their green shells, eating the air feverisly.

It hurts my eyes.  I am, after all, a mole person.  I am used to the gray day, splash in puddles, and feel the deep nourishment of the moist foggy air.  Today everyone will be smiling, happy, excited, as if the sun had truly left their lives.  I will stay in the shade, or have my hat on.  I can leave my hat on.

Many days I feel I am wired backwards, slinking in the shadows of the bright sun, eager to go out in the rain, ward off milkshakes and eat coarse cardboard-like crackers.   But I have the Lady by my side, carrying an umbrella for me–in the sun.  Her warmth does not make me squint.

I am nourished even in the piercing bouncing frantic driving of the sunniest day.