Dancing Raindrops

The roar of the old Rover thundering down the highway mixed strangely and yet somehow comfortingly with Norah Jones playing on my husband's IPOD. Our sweet girl in the backseat blissfully unaware of all around her slept undisturbed by the noise. So, I pulled my own blanket a little tighter to my chest and settled more comfortably into my seat. Peering towards my husband behind the wheel, I noticed just beyond him the dance of the raindrops on the window, two drops in particular frantically jitterbugging around each other, momentarily joining together and then bursting apart once again. On and on they went circling one another, confidently striking out on their own or even being forced apart by the relentless wind but every few seconds inexplicably finding their way back to each other again. Amused and in awe, I watched mesmerized wondering how long they could sustain their dance, but at once the action slowed as the two drops melted into one another and swirled gently around. Thinking the show was over I contemplated looking away, yet the drops suddenly separated into not just two but five, with three being considerably smaller. A family. The five danced together swirling around one another just as the two had done, venturing away from one another but always finding their way back.

Just a few silly little raindrops — and yet my heart was pierced with beauty, sadness, joy, and hope. How can that be? How could something so seemingly insignificant touch me so deeply? Each day, each moment is filled with the possibility for these sorts of connections. A solitary leaf clinging stubbornly to an otherwise naked tree, the early morning discovery of a world covered in hitherto unmarred blankets of snow, happening upon a rainbow in the midst of a dreary day – all these call upon something deeper within us, something worthy of awe and reverence and, at least, our attention. What is it that we’re supposed to glean from all of this? It’s different… and the same… for all of us, and it’s all a part of our journey.