The Adventures of Heather & Tessa: Downpour

It started off well. I skipped the gym today in favor of enjoying time outside, opting instead to take Tessa for a long walk. When we left the house, it was really nice out. Warm, and even a little bit sunny.

But just as we reached our halfway point, just as we were the furthest away from home we could possibly be while on our route, the skies decided to open up.

At first, it was just a few drops. I didn’t think much of it.

Then it started to sprinkle. It actually felt refreshing.

Then? Pretty steady rain. I thought, well, we’ll probably be pretty wet by the time we get home. But I continued to listen to my iPod, and figured we’d be fine.

But then things suddenly changed. The wind picked up, and all of a sudden, it started pouring. I was getting pelted in the face with rain, and I had to continually wipe my eyes because I was getting to a point where I was dripping wet.

When we were a little more than half a mile from home, I started to worry about my iPod and BlackBerry. I took out my earbuds and stuffed everything deep down into the pockets of my shorts. And then? We made a run for it.

Part of a shortcut to get home cuts across a school’s property, and when we were running down past the school, I started to hear thunder and saw small flashes of lightning. (Oh, and in case you’re wondering, it was still teeming rain.) I decided that it probably wasn’t a good time to go running across an open field, so I made a quick decision to bolt down toward the school and seek cover under a small overhang by one of the doors.

We waited it out for about 5 minutes, at which point I wasn’t hearing much thunder anymore. The rain was still coming down, but not quite as badly as before. And so we ran. And RAN. We took the quickest, most direct route we could, splashing through ginormous puddles and cutting across muddy grass. Don’t forget–my little dog is 11 lbs. and has approximately 6-inch legs. But she was a trooper.

When we got home, I couldn’t resist taking a few photos and a little video of just how wet we actually were. SOAKED! Completely and utterly soaked (including my knickers!). I actually wringed an impressive amount of water out of my socks, shorts, and t-shirt.

But in the end, my iPod and BlackBerry survived (thankfully!), and we made it home safely. So it was actually kinda fun. It was quite the adventure.

Oh, and for the record? It’s no longer raining. And of course it isn’t. Why would it be, now that we’re inside?