June 28

Well, its finally happened. I woke up to the rain today. Well, if we are being accurate, I woke up to the 945 church bells ringing. When I opened my curtains to bask in the morning sunlight of our day off, gray clouds seeped in and tiny dots of water speckled the window. Sigh. It was bound to happen sometime.

You might think this damp, bleakness is unwelcome, especially after such a bright weekend. But its not. In fact, its quite welcome. More than welcome, even. Appreciated. I keep falling asleep and dreaming about home. Not in any particularly nostalgic way, just realistically enough to trick me into thinking I will wake up there when I’m blurry-eyed and hungry for Cheerios. I can’t help but wonder when my dreams will be about Ireland. Most days I’m still waiting to wake up from this. For some reason the rain makes this feel just a tiny bit more real. For right now, at least. I can smell the earth soaking up the weather. I can feel the water hit my forehead and hear my shoes squish and squeak a little on the pavement. While this is not the first time I’ve ever felt rain, nor is it actually any different from other rainy days in the states, being able to feel that cool mist calms my creeping apprehensions and confirms that I am, in fact, here, right now, not dreaming, but wide awake. (241 words)