The first drops are light and I'm close enough that I could still go back.

I'm on my way to meet Isobel for coffee. Walking down my street, I catch a whiff of that pre-rain smell mixed in with the flowers along the neighborhood gardens. It starts to drizzle and I slow down but don't stop. Maybe I should go get my umbrella? Shockingly, I didn't even bring a rain jacket. I'm usually the over-prepared type who has an extra layer in his bag even when he's hiking to a coffee shop instead of up a mountain. Not today.

It's cool enough that I'm wearing pants but warm enough that I'm wearing short sleeves. My backpack is waterproof, so I don't have to worry about my laptop or the growing collection of books and notebooks in there.

This isn't a far walk so, worst case, I get a little wet.

No sooner had my reasoning given way to acceptance did it start raining for real.

As I'm walking, I'm thinking about how differently I move through the world in my daily life now than, say, when I'm traveling or back when I used to guide trips in the backcountry. Any other day, I'd have gone back for the umbrella. I don't know why today I didn't. While rounding the corner toward where I'm meeting Isobel, I lose the tree cover that had been dampening the rainfall. I knew that was coming, and smile as I walk straight into the wall of rain.

Ironically, I couldn't have cared less about that when I was out in the mountains for multiple weeks with few clothing options and no indoors to escape the elements. Now I'm about to be inside in a few minutes, down the street from where I live and where I can change into dry clothes in a bit.

I mean...

wut.

And yet— I'm not on my phone. I'm not listening to anything, either; aside from the rain and the cars and the light spray from their tires on the way by.

I'm a little wet.

But I'm not bothered by it in the slightest.

---

Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
347/365

When you hesitate, do you push back or give in?

onward. 

For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.