Twirl, Skip, Splash, Jump

It was the perfect plan:  rain boots on, slicker zipped up and out the door we dashed – another puddle jumping Sunday. Our dog tugged at the leash and I’m still not sure if it was because she wanted to catch the ducks she knew would be floating along the canal or the cars with their windshield wipers swishing back and forth. I held Gracie’s leash tightly while the kids twirled their umbrellas and raced along the sidewalk to the path.

No one was there. It wasn’t a dark day but rather light colored clouds offering a quick shower and a chill only California people would call “cold.” We dodged raindrops in the rain, gave the dog a good walk then made it home to warm up before the school play. It was only at the play that I had learned I was crazy.

“You are crazy for taking your kids out in the rain like that today.” I turned to look at a parent whom I recognized but didn’t know their name. “What?” I asked. “Why would you take your kids out on a day like today?” “Because it was fun,” I said matter-o-factly. “We all got exercise, drank from the sky, and watched the Great Egrets and Blue Herons hunt for worms in the marsh.” A disbelieving shrug and the under-the-breath comment “your kid’s are going to catch a cold in the rain.”

Yes, I Googled it. Can Playing in the rain make you sick?” I didn’t have time to read the over four million responses that came up but I felt confident with the answers which validated what my mother had always told me when I squished through the mud in our backyard wearing my dad’s rain boots.

Rain and cold weather don’t make you sick – but it does make you stay inside more which puts you in contact with more people. More people allows for more germs to spread.  And more germs can put you at a greater risk for getting sick. So, skip, twirl, slosh, jump, and splash! Let’s Go Chipper …Into the Great Outdoors.