When I was five, it's clear how I saw my life panning out. My dreams and ambitions were to "Get Lots of Flowers". Hmmm. Not a bad thought, really.

When a person is five, nothing really matters. You go to school for a few hours and learn how to begin reading and writing. School is fun. You wear cute little dresses and your hair is typically in a wispy little ponytail. 

I wonder if anyone tried to stop me when I was writing my dreams and ambitions and probably asking how to spell 'flowers'. "But Little Lisa, what do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to live, sweetie?" Nope, someone somewhere let me write down that I want to "get lots of flowers". I guess when a five-year-old has their mind set on something, it's better to let it be.

Now that I think about it, it's not completely unrealistic. In fact, my little five-year-old brain had something going for itself. Two days ago, I went out to dinner with my boyfriend and he surprised me with a bouquet of flowers. Yesterday, I re-decorated the bathroom and added a pop of pretty yellow flowers. My Little Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Program gave me a watering can charm because I helped her to grow. When (not if) I get a job teaching, I'll help my student sprout. And when I move out in a few years, I want a garden in my backyard full of beeee-youtiful flowers. 

Maybe my kindergarten self wasn't so quirky after all. 

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."

Rain. Throughout my entire life, it's rained on practically any major day of celebration or any day of any significance at all. 

Junior Prom - check. Pictures inside.
The first day of driving school. Monsoon. 
Senior Prom - check. Pictures inside again.
The first game I started as a Varsity pitcher. I'm pretty sure the rain was horizontal. Try gripping a ball like that.
High School Graduation.
The first day of student teaching. Even better - hail and snowstorm.
College graduation.

And the most recent - the last interview I had - RAIN. I got called back for a demo.

Tomorrow, I'm going in to do my demo lesson to a 6th grade math class. For those non-teacher folk, this just means that I'm taking over someone's class for the day and showing the principal everything I'm capable of in hopes of being hired. I bet you could have guessed that I have a bunch of emotions whirling around inside of me. Excitement. Anxiousness. How many people am I going against? Will they like me? What if I don't get hired?

Some of these things are out of my hands. I don't know how many other people are also demo-ing and I don't know that I'll be hired. But I do know that I'm going to do my absolute best. I'm going to show my personality and everything I learned in Mr. Jackson's class. And - it's going to rain. I'm going to dance in the rain.

(Side note - it's also Friday, the 13th, which must also be good luck for me with my track record.)

But I didn't mean for this post to be me rambling about my lesson and hopes of becoming a teacher. What I wanted to focus on the ability to look for the positive amidst the negative, or, more plainly, the rain. 

The rain means traffic. 
The rain means re-scheduled plans. 
The rain means crappy hair days. 
It's cold and not pretty and nobody likes rainy days. (Except me and my grandmother.) 

But, rain happens. We know that not all days are going to be sunny at 75 (shout out to any Joe Nichols fans). It's up to us to decide how to react to that. Are we going to wallow in self-pity and complain about the unsightly weather? Or are we going to go about our day despite the storm? Ultimately, it's up to us.

Don't wait for the storm to pass. Take advantage of the time you have now and dance in the rain.