Sounds of Gray

A rainy day in the big city can put anyone in a mood... add hump day and we've got an entire population of dark trench wearing, umbrellas over our face toting, urbanites on a mission not to smile.  The only brightness are the spots of red, green, purple and pink from the Hunter boots slightly exposed from a tucked in pant leg.

If you're like me and opened your dishwasher to find a family of ants having a field day (even after the exterminator came last week), you may or may not have thought to yourself, for reals yo?! We could curl up, roll down the shades and call in sick. I wouldn't blame you. In fact, I'd probably be pretty jealous that you had the guts to say, "alright peace our wednesday, see you next week!" OR we could embrace it. I'm not talking looking for the sunshine, put on some pump up tunes and dance around in our offices as if the sun is actually shining. I'm saying, let's embrace the gloom and dig right on in. Throw on your comfy "work clothes", order the most non-light drink at Starbucks (i chose hot cocoa and threw in an extra splenda for good measure) and hide your feet in wool socks rather than anything with the world dress in the title and head right on out into the world.

Sounds crazy, right? Meh, I think sometimes I'm most productive when the weather is a bit more doom than boom. I don't long to be outside or think about my evening plans on some outdoor restaurant patio sipping margaritas; I'm ok being in the office watching others outside running between buildings. My favorite aspect of a rainy day is the soundtrack that goes right along with it. There are your standards, your Gusters, your Jack Johnsons and Colbie Caillat... those slightly somber tunes that keep you swaying to the sounds, feeling reflective and wondering when the next time is that they plan to go on tour.

And then there's my gray skies play list. I hit the Joshua Radin pandora station, hunker down and let my mind wander. Some are love songs, some are about harder days or saying goodbye and some are just about rain.

Brett Denen - Aint no Reason
Regina Spektor - The Call
Rosi Golan - Been a Long Day
Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats
David Barnes - Little Lies
Natalie Walker - Color Blind
Teitur - I was thinking
Gungor - Beautiful Things
Old 97's - Questions
The Afters - Summer Again
The Swell Seasons - Falling Slowly
Barcelona - Get Up, Get Up, Get Up
Gabe Dixon Band - And the World Turned
Sean Watkins - Hello...Goodbye

I think one of the lessons I've spent the most time learning is that sometimes it's ok to let yourself wade around in the blue. As long as there's that light (maybe it's just thursday or a cupcake at lunch), feeling a bit slower, quieter, slightly more introspective, can be just what you need to really enjoy the days that are wonderfully, blindingly full of light. Let yourself enjoy the solitude that comes with the rain. If rather than feeling angst, we enjoy the sounds and wait for the sunshine, maybe gray skies are the new black.