Give umbrellas to strangers in the rain
There was a time when I loved rain. On my little girls’ bike I would race through the deepest spot of the enormous, lukewarm puddles on the deserted African roads. I would look up to the sky, squint my eyes, open my mouth and feel the rain drops on my tongue. I would enter my home soaking wet, dripping hair, big grin on my face. My mom would quickly get a fuzzy towel to make me dry and put me in some comfy, dry clothes.
Whenever it rains really, incredibly hard, I still have a strong urge to go outside and splash around in the puddles. It reminds me of the tropical rains of my childhood.
However, I mostly feel that urge in summer. Dark, Dutch, winter rains are a different story. They make me melancholic. Watching the drops though the window makes me want to cuddle up on the couch and never leave the house again.
Thinking that I am probably not the only person who feels this way, I decided to go out and give umbrellas to strangers in the rain (video). Perhaps it would make some people smile, despite of the weather.
I tied a little note to each umbrella, saying something like: “After rain comes sunshine.” Then I used the card as an excuse to use some of my flowery stickers and added: “Also, flowers wouldn’t grow without it.” You can’t beat that argument.
While looking at this picture afterwards, I happily discovered how symbolic the ripple effect is that the heart-shaped shoes create in the cold and wet puddle. The beauty of a ripple effect is that it needs very little action to get started. A tiny drop of water, or even a little step (quite literally) can create a large impact.
You can start a ripple any day, any time, any situation, any size. Isn’t that beautiful?
You might have noticed that I have been posting a bit less than usual lately. This has been a conscious decision though. Endings and beginnings always make me a bit reflective (so do mountain top views and driving on a high way late at night). So when the new year came, I thought long and hard about what direction I want to take with Magical Daydream. As it turns out, I want to return to the root, the reason I started this blog. That basically means that you’ll be seeing more happy posts like this one, more doing, more breaking the everyday routine and making strangers smile.
Magical Missions (how I like to call them) are harder to create, take up more time, demand more courage and make me more dependent upon others (like, camera help), than say, a DIY post or an article on play. Therefore you will see a cut in frequency. However, I do feel confident and excited about doing more of the difficult stuff.
So if you’re not subscribed to my Magical Clubhouse Mail yet, you might want to consider doing that. That way, you will instantly know whenever I have a new adventure to share.
I will be back with more colourful, uplifting adventures soon!
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8 Comments
Alexandra
February 1, 2016 at 15:22
I heart this post! Keep spreading your magic and making life sweeter.
magicaldaydream
February 1, 2016 at 15:25
Ahhh thanks for the encouragement! :)
Flor
February 1, 2016 at 16:11
GREAT idea! Welcome back, happy new year, I tell you again that I love your Magical Missions =)
magicaldaydream
February 1, 2016 at 16:46
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to show all the plans and things I’ve been working on!
Kezzie
February 1, 2016 at 20:56
That is a really lovely thing you did! Well done for that!!! I wrote a post on encouragement yesterday and you certainly do and did that for people! You have a beautiful encouraging smile in the video and I think that also spread sunshine to people!x
magicaldaydream
February 1, 2016 at 23:07
Isn’t it funny how encouragement works? First I try to encourage someone, but then by pointing that out you are in fact encouraging me again. Thanks for your kind words & willingness to encourage yourself as well!
Daphne
February 2, 2016 at 20:36
I just discover your magical mission – it putted a smile on my face for the whole day ! Thanks Marielle for bringing hapiness – maybe will I be lucky to see in mission when I come in Amsterdam in a few weeks ?
magicaldaydream
February 5, 2016 at 16:05
That’s lovely! I live about 1,5 hours from Amsterdam, so chances are small. But you never know ;)