Sunday 15th June 2025

I found myself standing on a path, in the middle of a park during a rainstorm. I was wearing my black, waterproof coat and holding my black umbrella over my head to take shelter from the rain, I looked around the surrounding area. It was daytime but there were dark, rainy clouds in the sky for as far as my eyes could see.

As people were running past me (to get out of the rain), I found myself wondering what I was doing here. Why was I standing in the middle of the park instead of trying to get indoor myself and out of the rain. I was then about to make a move; to take shelter for myself… when I saw it. Something I thought I would never get to see in my lifetime.

Without any warning, the bright sun broke through the rain clouds on the horizon in the front of me; shining brightly as the warm colours from the sun filtered across the land. Even though the rain continued to fall, the sun shined brightly as it slowly began to set. Within a few minutes; there was a mixture of the dark rain clouds and a warm, orange sky all around me. It was like both the rain, and the sun were fighting for dominance high above… and at the same time, creating a unique sunset in front of me. A sunset in the rain.

To be expected; I just stood there under my umbrella as I watched this beautiful and magnificent sight take place in front of me. I had no idea how long I was standing there for; I was in a trance-like state; almost mesmerised by what I was witnessing. I had heard stories from other people who had seen a sunset in the rain before… but to experience one for myself was amazing and almost overwhelming.

               More time went by as I continued to stand there; engrossed by what I was seeing… that was until I heard footsteps coming from behind me as they splashed through the puddles on the path. At first, I thought it was another person running through the rain, looking for shelter so I didn’t bother looking… but as the footsteps got louder, they began to slow down as they got closer to me then stopped next to me on my right side. Without looking at them, I knew they had also stopped to admire the view, so I let then share my umbrella with me. A few moments later, a young girl’s voice said to me-

“Caught in the moment again Dad?”

Still without looking at her, I replied-

“Do you blame me?”

I continued to stare at the view in front of us for a few more seconds before saying-

“A sunset in the rain is a rare thing kid. To see something like this is like a ‘one-in-a-million’ chance.”

A few more seconds past as we both continued to admire the view when I said to her-

“A rare sight indeed!”

A few more seconds later (after once again getting lost in the view in front of us), I finished my sentence to her-

“Savour this moment kid… because you may never see something like this again.”

As we both (once again) continued to witness the spectacular sight in front of us, she gently held my right hand, which startled me for a few moments (I can’t remember the last time someone held my hand in that kind of way) before letting it pass by embracing the moment.

               For the next few minutes, we both stood under the umbrella, with the rain falling around us as we both got caught up in the moment of the sunset in the rain.

We both lost track of time as we got lost admiring the view in front of us. It was not until the sun got a bit closer to the horizon when I finally ‘snapped out’ of the trance-like state. I looked down at my daughter as she continued to be mesmerised by the sight. That was when it occurred to be that I had a daughter.

               She was still holding my right hand and still in a trance-like state of her own. I stared at her for a few moments as I thought to myself about having a daughter. Wanting to know more about her; I was about to ask her name when I noticed something.

“Where’s your coat?” I asked.

She looked up at me; my daughter looked like a younger version of Hagar Moses (a friend from my past). She looked about 10-11 years old. She had Hagar’s unique Hazel eye colour, the same hair colour as Hagar but it was much longer. She was also wearing a dark red school uniform with a dark red classic School Satchel Bag over her right shoulder. She smiled at me before saying-

“I left it at home!”

Upon noticing that she had an English accent instead of an Egyptian accent (Hagar’s from Egypt), I was going to say something about it when I also noticed that her School Uniform was completely ‘soaked through’... that was when my ‘Dad Mode’ immediately kicked in as I moved a bit closer to her, to make sure she was fully under the umbrella and out of the rain. I must have given my daughter a ‘so-what’s-it-doing-at-home’ look because she responded by saying-

“It wasn’t raining when I went to school this morning.”

“Take this!” I told my daughter as I handed her my umbrella.

I put the hood up on my coat over my head as she took the umbrella from me. Because of the size of the umbrella, my daughter struggled to hold it over her head. After a few attempts and with using both hands, she managed to hold the umbrella above her. She then started to walk along the path… but she had only taken a few steps before turning back and saying to me-

“We need to get home.”

“Go ahead.” I replied, “I’ll catch you up.”

She gave me a funny glance as I said to her-

“Just give me a moment!”

As my daughter walked off in front of me along the path, I stood there in the rain as I embraced what was going on all around me. A perfect ‘Sunset in the Rain’ moment worthy to be remembered. As I ‘mentally captured’ this moment onto my mind, I looked ahead at my daughter. The silhouette of her under the umbrella on the path up in front of me, with a mixture of both the sunset and the rainy clouds in the sky, in the background in front of her and the reflection of everything in the puddles on the ground. Now that was a perfect image to remember forever.

               I once again found myself going into another trance-like state as I ‘burnt’ that image onto my mind as well; that was when my daughter called out to me-

“C’mon Dad!”

Snapping out of the trance-like state again, I looked along the path at my daughter, she had turned to face me again.

“Mom’s waiting for us.” She told me, “We can’t be late!”

Smiling back at my daughter, I caught up with her before we both walked along the path together.