Rainy as Fuck

It has been raining like stink in Seattle for the past 24 or so hours and the stinkage looks to continue for another 24 hours. This phenomenon is euphemistically referred to as “An Atmospheric River” or artfully called “The Pineapple Express”. Whatever you want to call it it’s a bloody fucking deluge. It’s the kind of rain that falls in LA in the 1982 release of “Blade Runner”. The kind of rain that my Dad would have described as “A cow pissing on a flat rock”.

The kind of rain that gets Seattleites, who have never met each other and who are accustomed to rain, striking up conversations at the gas station about the weather. Like the conservative looking woman driving an SUV with bumper stickers touting “Make America Great Again”, “Trump is God’s Chosen One” and “We Visited the Ark Encounter, Williamstown KY” asking me at the gas pump “What the Fuck is with this rain?” Sadly, I have no answers for any of her life’s questions.

Ultimately it is the kind of rain that makes my sump pump kick on every 2 minutes.

LOST and FOUND

 

Prologue

Otto Lang was a pioneer of modern skiing.  In the mid-30’s he traveled from Europe to New Hampshire and then to the Pacific Northwest where he brought technique and style to west coast skiers by founding ski schools on Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Mount Hood.  Soon he became the Director of the Sun Valley Ski School where he hob-knobbed with the stars of the silver screen and went on to write and produce movies.  He was often referred to as “The Grand Old Man of Skiing”. 

Before he passed away at age 97 he said “I know it is a broad statement, but it is true; skiing is responsible for everything in my life.  It connected everything.”

Otto Lang

That quote resonated with me and it got me to wondering if all of us were directed by some "one-thing" like skiing that connects all the dots and shapes the course of our lives.  Some event or experience that sends us along a path that we don't recognize as a path at all.  Something that nudges us along unaware as to why we choose A instead of B.  A gentle touch here and there that keeps us on course but sometimes a 2 x 4 across the head to get our attention and keep us focused on something we didn't know we were even supposed to be paying attention to.

I got to wondering what my “one-thing” was.