A bit of a morning

An occurrence this morning:

A young girl thought to herself as she chose her clothes for the day, “Hurrah! Finally I have my nice new skirts back, freshly cleaned and ready to be worn. Today is the day I shall make one of the skirts’ debut into the school. I shall wear the orange, swooshy one, with a sleek brown top, and of course my sandals, which will show off the nice purple color of my toes. And of course I must add jewelry—”

And so the young girl outfitted herself just so, and was happy with her appearance, and went off to breakfast in another building. On her walk she smiled to herself, thinking how tough she was, how firm, how little the apparent cold touched her. She observed many other students in jackets and jeans, huddled together, and thought how cold they were to be come “spring” semester. But she, she still wore summer skirts, sandals, and short sleeves—after all, anything over 12˚C was cheerfully warm, and it was 18˚, and should get up to 23˚.

Not ten minutes into her breakfast, she looked out the window, at the drab grey landscape, and made a peculiar discovery: it rained—no, it poured—no, that was “raining cats and dogs”! Appalled at herself for thinking she was beyond the weather, the poor girl sat in misery for the last of her breakfast, wondering how she would get back to her warm house and not catch cold or jump in puddles and not get her feet all wet.

Luckily later the rain paused, allowing the young girl to find her way home. Once there she re-adjusted her outfit: no more sandals, for these grey skies promised still more rain. Instead, a green pullover when out in the rain (she wouldn’t want to aggravate her current frail condition!), and sturdier shoes with blue-green socks; and, of course, set the umbrella next to the backpack and don’t forget to use it.

There: that’s better. The young girl knows how weak her lungs are, and how quickly they catch cold. With a warm chest and warm feet, the rain and cold couldn’t affect her too badly; or, at least, not worsen her current frail condition (a bit of a raw throat, a bit of a stuffed nose, and a bit of a headache, and, soon, a bit of wheezing). Luckily, now she is back at home, with an afternoon off from school, and a tea kettle calling her name, and a warm couch on which to rest, read, and drink tea. Perfect activities for such a grey, rainy day.