stars on my umbrella

i was standing at the bus stop on Thursday morning. it was sleeting then and i felt a bit like a git with my umbrella but i knew that it was going to turn to rain. it was too cold for my hooded raincoat, so using the umbrella was an attempt to avoid looking like i'd been dragged through a hedge backwards by the time i got to work.


i didn't stand in the shelter because there was already someone in there and that's just weird and terribly uncomfortable.


i was mulling over the looming work-day and how dire the situation was and how on earth were we going to salvage  it.  soon, the sleet began to turn to rain. and that's when i saw it out of the corner of my eye.  a perfect five-pointed star made of crystal clear ice, hanging off  a thread on my umbrella. and then i saw another, and another. i'm quite sure i gasped and almost certain i let out a little "ooooh!" of joy.


i wanted to show the burly man who was standing in the shelter, but he was wearing headphones and a scowl. i wanted to tell someone. sometimes  i wish i was braver. but i filed it away to share later and smiled the rest of the way to work. even on the bus, which isn't always a clever thing to do.


still, a funny thing happens when you walk along a street smiling -- people look at you strangely at first, but then they smile back. 


magic, it was.