Rainy Day Sweater

I have a rainy day sweater.

It is at least 12 years old, an olive-green tunic-style oversized sweater that I think I may have brought with me from Colorado when I moved, or perhaps purchased shortly after I arrived in Chicago. It is frayed at the bottom and at the ends of the sleeves, where the elastic has worn down so badly that they hang over the tops of my hands. Oversized clothing is particularly unflattering on a tall girl, and the color does nothing for me. The style is very dated and the fraying is more prominent with every washing, but I won't throw it out. It has become my rainy day sweater, and I wear it on chilly rainy days when I can sit in my chair by a window, sip coffee or tea or cocoa, stare out the window at the rain, and ponder...nothing.

It's been a week of the tying of loose ends, the catching up on things previously set aside, the looking forward to see what my future will ask of me, the getting of some much-needed rest. There is relief, excitement, anxiety, reflection, anticipation. Many tasks have been completed, and there are many remaining on my list.

But for now, I'm just a girl in a ridiculously large, badly frayed, butt ugly, old-ass sweater, looking out at the rain falling down, the puddles growing on the sidewalks, the pedestrians with their umbrellas blown out, the buses splashing gutter water onto the pavement. It's a good place to be.

-C.