We went rowing in the rain today, the lake shrouded in mist, the air fresh as a new dawn. My pants were only slightly waterproof and as the downpour increased, I got soaked to the skin. I didn’t care because the loons were calling and the rain pelted bubbles in the water and the slick black rocks of the islands rose into the mist.
I have always loved rain, ever since I was a little girl, and today there were no bugs, the rain was warm and the lake calm.
We took a break and I looked at Bill, wet dripping off his blue hat, Princess sitting in the stern behind him looking drowned and miserable and wondering why these people didn’t have the sense to get in out of the rain.
Words bubbled from my lips unplanned. “I love you,” I said to Bill. “I love you because if I hadn’t met you, I would never have done anything like this and I wouldn’t want to have to missed it for the world.”
Bill said nothing but I could see a twitch in the corner of his mouth.
“I love rain,” I said. “I married you because you’re from Prince Rupert where it rains every day. I could see the rain in your soul.”
He smiled his quiet smile. More rain came down and he picked up his oars.
“This is a great hat,” he said.
“Oh, that’s the hat Richard gave you,” I said. “Richard likes to give gifts.”
“Yes, he’s a very generous fellow,” Bill said.
We said nothing further then, just rowed through the rain in tandem and I reflected how, over the years of a marriage, love keeps renewing at the oddest of times. I would never have learned this if I had been too afraid to risk my heart.
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