It can rain all the time

I woke up today and for the first time in four months, I saw the sky without a cloud in sight. Had I known the reaction of my body and soul to endless clouds and downpour I would have taken the weather into consideration before moving to Shanghai. The sun still struggles to penetrate the smog but at least its not raining (until Thursday at least according to the weather report).

These last months have felt almost like some sort of apocalyptic punishment, reminiscent of Dante's Inferno. My worship of the sun throughout my life has resulted in an eternity of rain, cold, sleet, and darkness as far from God's warmth and light as possible. Or at least that is how I have felt in Shanghai for the last couple of months, as if I am barely holding my head above the deluge in some unknown inner circle of hell.

My adoration of the sun began when I was born in Saudi Arabia, land of the sun and dryness. An average of 1.1 inches of rain falls in Dhahran. We lived in Kwajalein, a tropical island bathed in glorious sun. Rain fell here in the form of monsoons, warm rains that poured, and then quickly exited. One year was spent in Cote d'Ivoire, which receives tons of rain, but also tons of sun. Finally, I compounded my fate by absorbing an unfair amount of UVA/UVB rays in Tucson, Arizona which averages about 284 days of sun each year. It was only a matter of time before "someone" decided I had had more than my fair share: Shanghai.

But today, heaven's light has finally appeared. I am up early, I feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I plan to get out of the house and challenge the traffic on my purple scooter with my Pomeranian, Loki, strapped into his doggie backpack. No more time can be wasted. I am off to immerse myself in sunshine!