“Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.” – Billie Holiday
Just because there are storm clouds overhead doesn't mean one can't find beauty below. Photo of Antelope Island by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
When one sleeps with their head just a couple of feet below the roof, and that roof is only about three inches thick, rain becomes a very personal thing.
Billie Holiday at two years old in 1917. -- Wikipedia photo
That’s how it felt last night when the sky above me continuously dumped its blessings on Texas’ water-starved landscape. The ping, ping, pinging, while interrupting my sleep, still sounded delightful to my ears.
The rain was still on my mind when I set down to write this blog, and so it seemed logical to write about it. When I went searching for a quote to accompany it, the one above by Billie Holiday stopped me cold. Perhaps it was because the rain was still coming down outside and I knew I would probably be walking my canine traveling companion, Maggie, in the rain this day.
The quote, however, also led me on one of those Internet explorations that I frequently take these days in search of information. I already knew Billie Holiday was a singer who set the blues and jazz worlds on fire with her music while scandalizing the world at the same time with her behavior. But I wanted to know more.
Billie Holiday was a dog lover, too. And her dog's name was Mister. -- Wikipedia photo
I found it, and it touched me. Reading about the life of this Black woman, who was raped as a child and spit on because of her color, brought the rain to my eyes. No wonder, I thought, had “God Bless the Child,” Billie’s most popular recording, been so powerful. She had to have sung it with all the emotions of an abused child’s heart.
And yet, if we are to believe her words, she could still feel the joy of simply walking in the rain.
How can I, whose life these days feels powerfully blessed, treat a walk in the rain as anything other than a delightful treat?
Pat Bean's blog 
Great picture and a favorite singer of mine. Now just send us some of your rain!!
Thanks, Pat. The quote is special. Your rain arrived in the Florida panhandle. Thanks, See ya. AL
Stop by and see my new great-grandson in Florida. He’s in Orlando. Glad you liked the quote.
Beautiful rain post, Pat. Thank you. 🙂
I lived in a little house, backed up to a big hill, between Killeen and Belton, Texas. It had a tin roof and my bedroom was the attic area so I also had the rain as a night serenade. My window was at the base of my bed so I could look out at the land/road before me. I watched the sheep graze across the road and the sunrise and set from that window. The quote is great and I also enjoyed Billie Holidays story with sadness felt for the injustice and a sense of bravo for her tenacity in the face of it. I recently read a book The Dry Grass of August..I cried in many areas and felt such sadness that such people were allowed to do the things they did to another human being.