Oh, yes my friends.
When last we left...us...Tink and I had finished a fantastic dinner at the California Grill. We were happy. Contented. And oh so relaxed.
But we had noted, with mild amusement, during the course of our delightful dining experience, the skies had continued to darken.
And it's quite possible, I may have even said, "Tink...it's going to open up and pour."
Bummer being right.
No sooner than our dinner was ending than did that very thing happen.
And the rain rain rain came down down down, in rushing, rising, rivlets.
Indeed. Except I didn't see Piglet floating by. But I may, just may have seen a weathered, older gentleman with beautiful white hair furiously building an ark and lining the animals up two by two.
They may have even come from the Animal Kingdom, who can say.
So Tink and I got down to the lobby after some deflightful chit chat with the CM in the elevator, and took one look at the rain and I think we may have collectively thought, "Oh boy."
And I don't mean just rain, folks. I mean monsoon type conditions. Rain that is raining so hard that you can barely see in front of you when you're driving, rain that is raining so hard that it doesn't matter whether or not you have a poncho or an umbrella, you're getting wet.
Does.
Not.
Matter.
And with that in mind, as Tink and I exited the lobby of the Contemporary, I took one look at her and began to speak.
And the conversation was something along these lines.
TK - "Tink?"
Tink - "Yes?"
TK - "You know there is absolutely no way for us to use the bus system without getting absolutely drenched, right?"
Because anything that we could do would involve heading back to the MK, and then bolting it to our bus stop if it wasn't under a covered area, and then having to bolt it back to our village from our bus stop which was soooo very far from our bus stop.
In all reality, it wasn't to bad of a hike, but in the rain, no way.
And before you ask what kind of pansies we are, let me remind you kindly, that we were both dressed in our schnazzy finery. And shoes, that quite frankly, were not made for running. Now if I'd been wearing anything else but that gorgeous green halter dress, I might have gone for it. But no way.
At which point, I said, "Do you want to get a cab?"
Tink heartily agreed. Thank God. She's no fool.
So we made our way to the podium and requested a cab to Caribbean Beach. Again, we are no fools. And we marveled at the amount of rain that was pouring out of the sky, the sheer magnifence of it. It was so, so, so much. I rarely see rain like that, and the last time in Florida, I think was with my Granddad. Sort of fitting considering that we'd toasted the grandparents that afternoon!
Well, eventually, a cab arrived, and we got in.
And no joke...the cabbie had island music playing.
I swear, I looked at Tink, and said, "the music.." and she just nodded and smiled. We were happy, we were contented...it was pouring!!!!
I felt so bad for our cab driver! You could barely see in front of you, and normally I don't feel weird about the whole your cab driver is really a complete stranger that you're trusting thing, but this storm made me feel a little nervous!
Thank god for the island music and the fact that he was so nice.
Eventually, we pulled into Caribbean Beach, and I had an idea.
TK - "Excuse me? Can I ask a favor?"
One of our favorite lines from the trip ever:
Cabbie - "Where you live?"
TK - "Jamaica."
Well that blessed man got us as close to Jamaica as he possibly could. Sadly, our room was not on the outskirts of the village, oh no. And there were definitely some uncovered areas to be negotiated.
In short...Tink and I were going to get wet. And it started when we got out of the cab. There was no choice, no option, it was going to happen.
So we got out and we ran like mad for the nearest covered walkway. Stopped, and I was so confused. I mean, I'd never stayed here before, we'd just checked in that day, and I had no idea where our room really was.
Well, thank god for Tink's navigatory capacity, because she had a better idea of where to go than I did.
Now, that brief run in the rain from the cab to the overhang, and we were drenched.
I mean, drenched.
We're walking underneath the covered area near rooms that aren't ours, just watching the rain pouring down, and it's amazing. And I'm having a moment. And it's a good one.
Across a completely open courtyard, Tink points, and says, "I think that's our room."
"You think?" I say.
I believe she said something to the effect that she was going for it, and she ran across that courtyard, getting even more drenched than she already was if that was possible.
Well, heck. What kind of a pirate would I be if I didn't follow her?
I gave a good ole pirate yell (more like a girlie scream) and ran across the courtyard after her. I didn't think it was possible to be any wetter, but it was.
Fortunately, for us, Tink was right. So there we are, standing at our door, near our lovely decorated window, panting, somewhat breathless, completely soaked, and I had never felt so alive in my entire life.
I almost can't put it into words without crying. I have hard time dealing with stress, I always have. And I've had a less than desirable...actually often hostile and extremely degrading...work environment for the past three years now. We won't get into all of it, but it was like in this moment, in the rain, in the dress, in Disney, completely soaked, completely invigorated, finally completely happy to be in a moment, to be alive, to be with Tink, to be who I was and to be so happy.
It was like something in me broke. Something that needed to be released, something that needed to be let go.
And it was wonderful. Wonderful to feel so alive.
I guess it really was sort of biblical now that I think about it.
But enough of my profound musings, and back to the matter at hand.
The fact that before we left, we'd cranked the AC because it had been a bit hot outside, and we wanted a cooler room.
But a cold room when you're soaking wet is no fun.
I looked at Tink.
She looked at me.
I could see it in her eyes. She ran across the courtyard. I had to pirate up and go in the room and turn down the air.
Tink - "I can't do it. I can't go into that cold air."
We're both laughing and smiling and totally drenched, and I opened that door, and that cold air hit me like an artic blast.
It was SO cold. I turned the air a little bit warmer, and then Tink came in. I guess you could say we both took one for the team that evening.
We were laughing so hard. It's that kind of laugh that you have when you've given yourself over to the laughter, when you don't care who hears. It's a good feeling.
We both quickly changed for bed, and when I put on my jams and my slippers, did it feel oh so good.
I took that relaxed opportunity to call my boys and see how they were.
They were watching Transformers. Ah, the testosterone.
And then DS asks me a potentially heartbreaking question.
"You come home to sleep?"
Perhaps the concept of my actually leaving with Auntie Tink hadn't really set in. Maybe he didn't get that I was sleeping somewhere else that night. I basically explained not that night, but soon, and thankfully, my DH was able to distract him and make him laugh over something, and my heart didn't break, only stung a little. But it a good way.
It's only 830pm.
But we're tired.
And we're full.
And we're happy. And shortly...
we're asleep.
A sign from the universe, if you will. 
