Took a Walk in the Rain Today...

It was so beautiful out with the rain pouring down. I've been wishing for rain like this. I went out by myself while the boys were playing games (big boys included) and walked up the hill, into the woods. I went without a hat, the better to feel each lovely giant raindrop falling on my head.

I was fortunate enough to come upon our ravens. Usually they are extremely wary and don't let a human anywhere near them. I guess the rain muffled the sounds of my coming enough that they stuck around a while. I leaned against a tree and enjoyed the many calls sounding nearly over my head. There were answers a ways off, the other half of the pair. Did you know ravens mate for life? Or that they have over twenty different vocalizations? Or that they have tested smarter than chimps in intelligence tests?

Standing in the rain, listening to the ravens, watching rainwater flow down the glistening orange madrone trunks, breathing deep, acknowledging the creator of all with my joy was as spiritual an experience as praying for my friends in church this morning. Different, but not more or less. It was what Madeleine L'Engle calls "being'' time. Just listening, just "being".

I felt a tingling, an awakening in my being. Perhaps the beginning of a Story.