Woke up super late today. Must have needed the sleep. Was going to tidy up the garden and work on some side projects, but it started raining so I joined Aneesah on some errands in San Rafael and Mill Valley.
We popped to the restored Mill Valley Lumber Yard, a cute collection of stores and restaurants that makes you feel like you’re cosplaying a lumberjack, but one who buys overpriced beanies and only drinks perfect flat whites. It was chucking it down, but we grabbed an early dinner and sat under the heater outside with Cacio. We watched the rain pour down in sheets with the most beautiful backdrop. I loved every second.
I love the rain in general. I love being warm and dry but being viscerally aware of the wet and cold. There’s something about knowing that the warmth shouldn’t be taken for granted. That you’re warm despite the weather, not because of it. I like being in the rain too sometimes. I even like camping in the rain a bit. Growing up in England does that.
I really can’t imagine a better feeling than being wrapped up warm in front of an open fire, in a lighthouse on a remote island, whilst wind batters the windows and the rain and sea rages outside. I’m certain that I’m supposed to be a slightly moody lighthouse keeper, and that I was simply born at the wrong time and in the wrong place. I might change my mind if I ever actually got the chance, of course. Still, I can dream.
It also reminded me that running errands can be the good stuff. The good times. Living in the Bay Area tends to make this more true I think, because regular commutes might happen through awe-inspiring landscapes, but it wasn’t just about that today. It was about spending a simple, quiet moment with my family on a slow Sunday.