As I was driving up to Salt Lake, ominous grey clouds gathered from the west and they were moving fast. The weather report promised severe thunderstorms and hail. I was hoping to get to the temple before the worst of it started.
Nope. No such luck.
I did manage to park in the Conference Center parking garage before the downpour started . . . but as I climbed the stairs and came outside onto the granite plaza of the Conference Center, there were sheets of rain coming down and forming rivers in the streets.
And there was no sign of it letting up any time soon--goodness, it had just started.
So I decided to run for it.
The temple is about a two-minute walk away from the Conference Center. I knew I wasn't going to get to the temple dry, but I wanted to get there as quickly as I could.
As my luck would have it, I got stuck at the crosswalk and had to wait an extra minute waiting for the light to change. All while buckets of water are pouring on my head, soaking my dress, getting in my shoes, and seeping into my temple bag.
The light changed and I ran across the crosswalk and the sidewalk. (I know--I'm a sinner. Running on the sidewalk. How dare I.) It was raining so hard that there was water getting into my contacts. I couldn't see because there was so much water in my eyes and I was blinking back the rain, hoping that my contacts wouldn't fall out.
When I got to the temple, I looked a lot like this:
Actually, I looked a lot less like the cleaned-up Liesl and a lot closer to Liesl when she's dripping wet and trying to sneak past Maria:
Yup.
So, if you have ever seen The Sound of Music, then just imagine a soaking Liesl. Because that's exactly who I looked like. My dress even looked similar, except it was navy blue instead of rose pink.
In other words, I was a sight. I looked like a drowned rat. It's fine. The looks I was getting from the temple workers were hilarious. It was even funnier because I was walking in with Amberlea--beautiful, put-together, classy Amberlea with her perfectly coiffed hair--and then I was standing next to her in all of my diluvial glory.
It's probably a metaphor for something.
[Sorry for the terrible lighting. This is the best picture we got of that night. After I had dried off a bit. Even though my clothes were still quite damp.]
It's always an adventure when we're around. And I'm glad that Amberlea is around for the thick and thin, the storm and the sunshine.
I couldn't ask for finer people in my life.
Climb every mountain. Ford every stream. Or sidewalk. Depending on the day.
P.S. If you get the reference I paraphrase in the blog post title, then brownie points for you.
P.P.S. The Sound of Music also reminds me of this hilarious corner of the Internet. Enjoy.
BROWNIE POINTS. YES.
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