Dancing in the Rain

When you were a kid what was something that you always wanted to do, but where scared to do?

For some it was riding a bike, for others it was crossing a street, but for our girls it is and was dancing in the rain.

A month or so back we had a warm rain shower. The kind that you pray for in Kansas. The temps had been so hot we couldn't take the girls outside due to heat, the air inside was stale due to lack of breeze and frankly no one wanted to do anything. Then all of the sudden a thunderstorm rolled in, the air within the house was building with tension that was starting to boil over due to being trapped within for so long. The girls were ready to explode. Until the thunder past and I showed them what it truly means to dance in the rain.

At first the girls were scared, the rain was colder than they expected, they were worried about ruining their clothes, or getting in trouble. They had never thought to dance in the rain and to be honest at first I thought I would be the only one out getting soaked. They watched me with wide eyes as I boldly marched out in the middle of the yard and turned slowly to face them. Then out of no where I started dancing like a fool for the world to see. I mainly attempted to do some American moves with Bollywood thrown in for good measure. That earned me a few stares and a lot of giggles. As the giggles got louder I noticed the girls were slowly moving towards me.

When they were within arms reach I snatched out and grabbed one. I wrapped her up in a bear hug and forced her to stand in the rain and dance a waltz with me. She laugh and eventually started to dance without me. The tricky part was getting the older one to think it was fun and not childish. After dancing around each other and a lot of coaxing we finally got her close enough to wrap up in a hug and dance. This of course led to splashing each other, laughing, singing, and some dancing. I'd love to tell you it was a beautiful dance that was well choreographed. But it wasn't it was pure innocent fun of two young ladies who have lived a life I can't even phantom letting go for just a moment of all the anger, guilt, and shame to be children once again by dancing in the rain.

It lasted a while until I noticed their teeth chattering and then much to their disappointment I led them back inside. Once up in their rooms they discovered that dancing in the rain is very similar to dancing in a shower LOL. Clever silly girls that they were they just moved the party upstairs in their bathroom. Finally they were tired enough to change and dry off moving back downstairs.

I admit that in my life I have taken a lot for granted and one of those things for sure is dancing in the rain. I will never forget the looks on their faces as they raised their heads and sung to the rain as it poured down on them. They would twirl and dance all while laughing and splashing each other. They were so innocent and happy in that moment it took a lot for me to pull them away. I am truly blessed that God gave me that moment the right thing to do. Tempers died down, the girls felt they had gotten away with something, and now the 3 of us have a secret about dancing in the rain. It is something they haven't done since and something that every time it rains they look out, look at me and giggle.
 

We now have 2 wonderful... teenagers

I slightly joke and yet it still amazes me no matter what culture you are in teenagers are teenagers are teenagers.

They act the same, have the same attitude of, I know everything and you know nothing, they laugh at the same stuff, they compete like no other and hate to lose. They are giggly and loud one minute only to be withdrawn and anti-social the next. They pretend not to care what you think, but the moment that you least expect it is when they come to you with their heart on their sleeves wanting love and affection. They hate doing chores, they don't like getting dirty unless they want to, and God forbid you make them eat their veggies.

Yet here I am in India and dealing with all the same issues that I faced back home with the youth kids. We officially have two beautifully tough yet amazingly insecure girls in our home. Both have gone through unspeakable things and yet they still can sit on the floor and color for hours. Watch Tom and Jerry and laugh until their stomachs hurt, draw, paint, play games, talk and eat popcorn endlessly. They are complete opposites and yet inseparable almost as if they know they have similar war stories so they are going to stuck together.

One is loud, demands attention at all times, pouts when she doesn't win, is angry at what has happened to her, demands justice, and draws the most beautiful pictures of flowers I have ever seen. The other is quiet, goes with the flow, doesn't like to upset anyone, won't touch people or like to be touched by people, hates to draw, loves to color, LOVES American music, doesn't care about justice just seeks peace and safety, she only wants to be loved and live free, and sings more beautifully then any person I've ever heard. Yet they both have their moments when they all of the sudden can't understand English, Hindi, or Assamese. They hate eating veggies, don't like chores, can't move fast for anything except popcorn. They desire to only wear their favorite color, giggle and whisper to each other about everyone, pout when they loose and really don't like to be paired with someone who will cause them to loose (AKA me).

Yet today for the first time the one that doesn't like to be touched or to give touched wrapped her arms around me in a hug for just a second. The artist sat down with me for a few hours to draw Mendie on my hand. They both shared their precious popcorn with me last night during the Hindi version of Shrek 2 and insisted I eat my share. Asked me to read them the same story about a stork and a fox over and over and over again. Learned the cupid shuffle then danced it with me a million times and patiently played badminton with me for an hour.

Needless to say I have 2 teenage girls teaching me patience, laughter, humility, compassion and kindness. Most importantly they are teaching me how to love them completely with the attitudes, scars, hurts and bruises. They are showing me how much I can do simply by dancing the same dance a million times over. Every moment that I share with them is more of a blessing then I had ever hoped for.