I was biking home from midtown and I was stopped at a light. To my right were dark grey clouds and to my left blue skies with white fluffy clouds. I turned to the woman beside me on her bike and said, "It's like we're in the middle of two days -- a warm and sunny one, and a dark and stormy one." She agreed and I wished her a safe journey.
I could tell from the direction the clouds were moving in that the storm was just about upon us. The light turned green and we were off. Not long after I felt a few tiny drops, one even ringing my bell as if an angel from heaven was saying, 'Keep on going, there may be storms that come your way but the sun will always shine on the other side and you'll be that much stronger for it.'
The rain got heavier, the temperature dropped and then hail began pounding down, perfectly deflected from my face by my head gear. I could have pulled off and found shelter but instead I felt as though I was being cleansed from the heavens above of all that no longer serves me allowing me to move into the next chapter of my life with confidence and clarity.
I was singing and marveling at the beautiful storm that few so rarely get to experience in our modern world. I could hear the crunching of hail balls under my tire. And, not too long after the hail had arrived, I could see those blue skies and white fluffy clouds on the other side of the storm. When the sun shone once again, everything felt refreshed and there was an aura of peacefulness that I felt surrounding me.
I believe that it was the first hail storm that I had biked through and one that I won't forget.