Critical Pursuit

Placing one foot in front of the other seems the only way to reach the end of this journey though I do wish there was an easier way to do it.
This particular day dawned promisingly bright, with the sun shining into our front window, warming not only my body but my thoughts as well. Lately it seemed the weather had not favored us with too much other than rain so this day was a blissful change. Looking out the front window I felt rather tickled to see evidence that my upcoming task would be rather pleasant in comparison to the usual wet soggy missions I was committed to.
Enough pondering; chores needed doing inside before I would be able to get out and feel the warm sunshine on my back.
Finally ready, my friend and I headed out the door into the beautiful day. I had my umbrella just in case the weather man decided to make a quick transformation (which happened more often than not). We headed down the street in the direction of the park which we passed each day, in a light happy spirit. About six blocks from home the sky began to darken in the west. The sun, getting ready for bed, had already made its way in that direction. I got a sinking feeling that today was going to end up like so many others; that I would be blown and soaking wet.
It seemed each step marked the progress of the darkness in the sky and now we were under one of those eerie looking domes with dark clouds tumbling and churning above us and the sun completely gone from view. This always happened so swiftly; starting out a beautiful day and ending up the disastrous mess we were amidst now. Then the rain came down.This brings me to the point where I started my story………….indeed it seems putting one foot in front of the other is the only way we are going to reach the end of this journey…………so that’s exactly what we did.
I released the catch on the umbrella about the time a huge gust achieved its mark and turned it inside out. My friend was no help, looking at me with interest and curiosity as though I was perhaps from another planet, trying to open this umbrella in the middle of a wind storm. As I struggled to get the umbrella righted another gust arrived it seemed, for the sole purpose of ripping it right out of my hands. We watched it go sailing high above us, ironically now in the right shape and form to have protected us from the pouring rain.
Without protection of an umbrella we moved forward on our trek. The water dripped from the end of my nose, I couldn’t see out from behind my glasses, we were cold, my friends hair curled as it got wet and mine just hung in strings, the wind at its leisure, whipping it around and into my eyes. I could see our destination up ahead but in these conditions it would still take awhile to get there. I vowed to do something about the necessity for this daily traipse; just what or how I didn’t yet have quite clear in my mind.
Finally we arrived and there it was, the only place in the entire universe acceptable for the job at hand. My friend very promptly went over to her favored spot and tended to the task she had come here to take care of………she POOOOED……….she did her little (what I call) poop dance then looked up at me proud as punch, wagged her tail and waited at the end of her leash for her praise. There was no other place she would be convinced to carry on this critical business.
This journey could be likened to the early days of the mail delivery…………it had to be, whether wind, rain, sleet or snow.

(Saturday Writing Prompt (WFSC) May 12, 2011)