Dance in the Rain

Last week was the unofficial start to summer here in Indiana. Yes, it was Memorial Day weekend, but it was also the start of the Ruoff Music Center summer concert series and I was excited! There are 46 scheduled concerts between now and the end of September and, with the coveted Lawnie Pass, we will be at as many as we can. But what a start! Tuesday night was Hozier. It was also the first “severe weather” night and venue evacuation when the lightning got too close. Tonight was all rain - and all fun.

Weeks ago when the HARDY concert was announced, I asked my friends at work to trade shifts so I could have Saturday night off. I worked the night before the show and, after about four hours sleep, when I woke up the rain had begun and radar showed it would continue throughout the show. Todd was working - country isn’t his favorite genre - and at least one of my concert-going friends decided to sit out this particular cold, soggy night. So it was decision time…

They say that life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain…

Life is a series of decisions - some easy, some not so easy. Some big, some little... To go to a concert or not may not seem like a big decision, but it was more about choosing to live life or let life get me down. Over the past five years, I’ve learned that winter in the Midwest is a quiet time. Friends stay in instead of going out. It’s cold and it’s quiet. It borders on being sad. And it would be so easy to fall into the trap of letting a little rain prolong that introvert spirit. But that’s not my spirit.

Sometimes, pushing past what makes us uncomfortable is the only way to grow. Being one in 20,000, without my forever concert date by my side, felt intimidating. It wasn’t the first time I ventured to a concert solo, but it was the first time in awhile. And it was cold and wet and I was tired. It would have been so easy to stay home. But then I’d miss out on something I’d been looking forward to for weeks. In this case, the reward outweighed the risk, and a HARDY concert became an inspirational analogy for life. HARDY became my dance instructor. It was time for me to dance in the rain.

In an era of social media and Instagram and SnapChat filters, it’s not always easy to know what is real and what’s a piece of our altered reality. It’s so easy to choose what we want people to see and share that part of us that is happy and beautiful and alive. It takes courage to let people into our more vulnerable places. And it takes courage to put ourselves out into the world and live life to its fullest.

For too many of us today, the storm is real, whether internal or external. Life’s challenges are real, even when the life we share looks so easy. Sometimes a smile hides the pain. But then again, sometimes our smile is so real that it can brighten another’s dark day.

Be that person - the one whose smile becomes infectious and brings others along.

Take the chance, go to the concert, learn to dance in the rain.