Rain

You only need an umbrella in the rain if you're afraid of getting wet.

That was the very profound thought I had while I stood in the rain, umbrella-less.

The storm was spectacular. The clouds were piled high and dark, blocking any light the moon might have given. You could glimpse their massive formations as the lighting streaked across the sky. The waves roared toward the shore with a rage that only nature can show, the foam swirling on the white sand. It was possibly not the best move, standing exposed on a beach during a storm.

But I didn't care.

Life has a funny way of never doing what you tell it to do. And because of that, you can slowly and unknowingly die inside, your emotions withering. You don't realize you've forgotten what it used to be like. You don't know what it could be like.

I still don't believe in love at first sight. I just don't see how you can meet someone and just know. I could be wrong, but I've never seen it.

I did learn, on that beach, that you can wake up a long dormant soul. Things you had forgotten are suddenly back in full force, at the front of your mind. A spark has ignited - and now what? Do you stamp it out to rid yourself of the sudden and breathtaking pain it has brought? Do you let it simmer until it is allowed to fully burn again, living with that pain?

It might have been better to have left it alone. To have let that little piece stay dead so you wouldn't know the pain that it has brought.

So, here I am on a beach, in the dark and the rain. But not all of the pouring drops running down my shaking body are from the sky.