Day 81: You can take the boy out of California but you can’t take the California out of the boy.

I’m incredibly adaptable. I’m also stubborn.

I like how adaptable I (think I) am. I can handle Zero Star hotels, I patiently teach math to my sons (even when they don’t feel like learning math) and I will not stop and cannot stop when you get me going (Every Single Day).

But I won’t buy a rain jacket. I don’t even have a waterproof anything. I even like the rain (maybe that’s part of the problem). But I’m getting soaked. Then when I arrive, I have to sit in my soak until I, well, dry. Especially if I’m not home and don’t have other clothes. Seems pretty simple, right? Get a waterproof something.

This is from a series of posts on our recent move abroad (from the US to Holland). You can follow more here: Dutch Life.

I’ve read about these tools where you carry this stick and then press a button and it opens up like a butterfly and you hold it above your head and it keeps the rain off. Then they also have a jacket with a protective coating of some kind that doesn’t let water in either and if you wear it, the water just rolls off and onto the ground. Amazing.

It’s time to get a raincoat.

There are lots for sale. I see them everywhere. People really like them, too. They wear them when it rains. I just go under an awning or a tree. But this is an outdoor lifestyle. We bicycle everywhere. We walk. We’re not in the car much. I rode 15 minutes, in the rain, to basketball practice tonight. In the rain. In the dark. My bike has lights. Front and back. They’re serious about their bikes. They’re also serious about their rain.

It’s been really dry until just the last few days. But now it’s raining. I truly love the rain. It’s cozy, it’s special, for most of my life, it didn’t happen very often. We used to do rain dances in elementary school. They probably do sun dances here.

I can adapt. I’ll get a raincoat. Soon. I promise.