Wet Walk

It was an overcast day for most of the day today yet it never really rained.  I should know as I worked in the field most of the day.  Around supper time the sun started to shine through and so I decided it would be a nice evening to walk down to Bill's Corner Store with the kids for a treat.  My wife headed out for groceries and I got the kids ready to go down to the store.  Well, the sunshine was simply the calm before the storm I guess.  As we stepped out the door there was a light sprinkle.  When we stopped to talk to the neighbor it turned into a drizzle.  As we got to the store there was a light rain coming down and we were laughing over the fact we were going to be eating ice cream in the rain.  We got our drumsticks and fudgesticks and headed back towards home.  As we left the store, lightning flashed to our right and a few seconds later the thunder rumbled.  The rain picked up some so we decided to wait a bit under the porch at the old school house.  We sang a little and laughed a little over the ice cream mustaches on the kids faces and decided we could hustle home in the rain.
The thunder and lightning picked up as we stepped out of the cover of the porch.  I picked up my daughter and held my son's hand as we ran down the sidewalk.  We took time to jump in a puddle or two and when we thought it couldn't rain any harder, it did.  The harder it rained, the harder we laughed.  We were enjoying being wet and laughing so hard that the kids didn't even have time to be frightened by the loud claps of thunder.  It was a great moment where God blessed us with the ability to smile, despite the discomfort of being wet and a little cold.
As we got home and into the house, I took a moment to really look at the kids.  Their smiles under sopping, wet hair, were uplifting.  In a word...blessed.