Wakeboarding in Suburbia

I would guess that yesterday was our storm of the season, it rained cats and dogs and Mother Nature was really cleaning house with the wind she brought, scouring trees of the last summer leaves and flooding them down storm drains with the deluge of water; which of course led to the streets flooding! I was looking south out my bedroom window at the lake that used to be our street when I saw a minibike towing a kneeboard. I knew at once it must be my neighbor and was inspired to actually get dressed, grab a rain coat and the camera and head out into the hurricane. Okay, it's California, not a hurricane, and at this point the wind was finally dying down, but still....tons of wind and water. You can see the video I shot with my digital camera at http://www.w8book.com/me.php?id=1651. This was the first time I've been outside to just be outside in longer than I can remember. I force myself to go out and ride my bike in clement weather, and I run to the grocery store when I need to shop, but to just go outside for the fun of it? It's been ages. And it felt so good! Another neighbor was running his truck fast through the water, creating walls of water twice as high as his truck, and the joy of it was so wonderful. Of course I am talking about young men in their 20's, still full of the vigor and fun and craziness of youth, but I haven't felt that at home on earth in a long time. And taking pictures, and my first ever digital video, was great. I have been taking pictures while on my bike rides, and I have a folder of shots named "around the house" that is full of dogs and cats and flowers. But these action shots were wonderful to frame and catch, different somehow than the 'still life' that I normally shoot. I arrived back home looking like a drowned rat, but smiling and full of energy, two more unfamiliar sensations. I think it is finally time to introduce some smile therapy into my life. For so long laughing as been backed by guilt and sorrow, but yesterday, aside from the one comment to Joe's picture that it could have been him out there playing in the rain, it was about me and doing something spur of the moment led by need and inspiration I guess. This morning as I write this I do feel a tinge of sorrow trying to squeeze my heart, but it's not an overwhelming stab of pain, and I feel another baby step towards my new life.