Wash It Away

It was just one of those days.

When it rained, it poured.

The morning had started off terribly. Somehow in the midst of her sleeping, she managed to reach over towards her alarm no less than three times and turn it off. Luckily for her, she had always had a pretty decent internal clock, which, this morning, woke her up - still way late of when she should have gotten out of bed. So right off the bat she was in a hurry. Banging her leg off the side of the bathtub as she clamored in, cutting her shin slightly and she tried to do a quick spot shave - she was even out of milk by the time she made her way downstairs, head still wrapped up in a towel. So as she stood on the curb, waiting for the bus to arrive, she choked down her coffee - thinking additional sugar would ease the lack of cream.

When the bus finally did pull up in front of her, she was annoyed to see that were no available seats. So she climbed aboard and squeezed in amongst the commuter crowd. Usually lack of personal space didn't bother her, but because of how the morning had already begun, the proximity of everyone around her started to wear on her. She could feel the people around her as they brushed up against her. She could smell their breath lingering in the air - accents of coffee and tea on top of the minty aroma of recently brushed teeth. To her right she could hear the tunes pumping out of someone's iPod - louder than it ever needed to be. Letting the entire bus know what they were listening to. She felt trapped. Confined by these people. Like she was on exihibt. Being tested by her environment.

Thankfully though her stop was just around the block. As the doors opened before her, she lunged at the opportunity to get off. Skipping most of the stairs on the way down - feeling a sense of relief as soon as the cement of the sidewalk made contact with her shoes. As she continued down the block, she felt a slight vibration in her purse. Pulling out her phone, she stopped as she read the message. The big meeting, with the huge client that she had been working on for the last few months had been called off. For one reason or another they had lost the account. Deep down in her chest her heart sank. Behind her eyes she could already feel the tears beginning to form. She had sunk so much of her time into it. Lost weekends and numerous nights of sleep.

As she stood there, bewildered by how horribly the day had not only begun, but continued, she heard the loud clap of thunder echo out above the city and reverberate throughout the buildings. And before she could react, the sky had opened up and was upon her. Thick, fat raindrops pounded into her and splattered against the pavement. In a matter of second she was soaked through - hair matted against her face, blouse and skirt drenched, hugging her skin. All around her people ran for cover while she just stood there with a measly newspaper over her head - the best option she thought of.

But deep down, she didn't mind. The absurdity of the situation brought out a chuckle. And it felt good. Laughing at it all. The oversleep, the shaving accident, the crowded bus, a lost account. It all seemed so silly. Why did she let anything so insignificant get under her skin? There was absolutely no reason.

So she continued on, walking towards her office, unaffected by the rain - the smell of ozone tickling her nose.

And for the first time, in quite some time, she felt a spring in her step.