Squeeze my eyes shut in an effort to make the stinging go away. Little poison darts sticking in my eye.

I'm somewhere else now.

Humid summer afternoon, sometime in July. The sky opens up and heaven lets us know exactly where we stand as it tries to wash us clean of all our filth.

There I am standing in the middle of the parking lot of my complex. Twentysomething years old, smiling as the rain soaked my clothes. Twirling in circles with my arms spread wide , all alone in the middle of the lot on a weekday. The occasional resident coming or going, looking at me as though someone let me out of the asylum, and my day pass had expired.

Switch to now. We had a little rain this afternoon, all of four minutes. No time to dance in it, no time to revel and feel the water disovling on the hot asphalt. Just me, standing in the middle of my office, sadly realizing that by the time I walked out the door, it would be over and I'd be left with nothing but the oppresive summer air to greet me.