Sun Breaks

We moved to Seattle in the summer. We were prepared to trade the sunny surf for the majesty of real mountains, tall trees, and the famously wet weather. The skies of the Puget Sound were sunny, radiant and a more pristine blue than I had ever seen. Mt. Rainier could be seen in all it's glory nearly ever day. I thought, "Guess I won't be needing the 521 umbrellas people gave us as parting gifts when we left Southern California." Months later, the umbrellas were still in the closet as Seattle experienced a winter drought.
Then, the heavens opened up and the rains came. They came with unwavering perseverance and austere determination. I started reading the weather report every day. I became obssessed with weather terminology. I read somewhere that eskimos had hundreds of different words for snow. The Seattle weather man had about that to describe rain, clouds and gray. Rain, rain changing to showers, heavy rain, light rain, windy, inceasing showers, morning fog.............................

Then, I came upon my favorite Seattle weather phrase..........."sun breaks." When the sun peaks through the gray atmospheric blanket that covers the Puget Sound, Seattleites stop and.........notice. Eyes turn upward and life pauses. Fingers at Microsoft stop tapping keyboards, ferry boat passengers venture out on to the deck, drivers slow down, even the tall evergreens seem to extend their branches.

In the proverbial gray that sometimes blankets my life, there are distinct sun breaks, glimpses of hope that remind me of the source of light, of life, that give me pause to stop and notice.

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