Warm Rain

It is raining outside. I can hear the drops hitting our roof and windows. It is a sound I cherish. The melodic drumming of raindrops.

I was walking in the rain today loathing it. As you step outside, the cold dampness seeks through the layers of clothing, past your skin and to your bones. You are cold and wet unless you are wearing snow gear, I wasn’t.

I was thinking about how much I HATE rain. Then my mind flashed back to when I was a little girl.

When it would rain I would rush outside in excitement. I loved the rain. Usually not even wearing a coat I would dance and get soaked until the worms came out. Then I would rush around trying to catch them before they slinked back into their holes. They always came out though because their homes were being flooded. Poor worms.

I was a weird child collecting worms in the rain, walking barefoot through the damp dust. It stuck to my feet.

I loved this rain because it was warm rain. Warm rain it the most wonderful thing in the world and really only occurs in desert areas.

The smell is intoxicating. You can smell the rain coming and after it leaves. It’s as if God is renewing the true smell of the Earth. You want to go outside just to take in that smell.

Being wet is not a big deal because it is just your clothes and hair. The rain is salty and sweet as it falls down the skin of your face and into your mouth.

The rain was such a treasure to me. I cherished it. I LOVED when it rained.

It rained on my birthday once. I had planned a Hawaiian Hello-Kitty party. I was turning ten. My birthday is in August. It NEVER rains in August in Yakima. That was a birthday I will never forget. Partly because my mom made pineapple upside down cake and I realized I hated it, but mostly because all the activities I had planned outside were basically canceled by the fact that my friends and I going to the local pool to swim in the rain. Afterwards we continued to stay outside dancing in my front yard and waving a sign that read “Honk! It’s Gina’s Birthday!” at every passing car. We would scream with glee when someone honked for me. We choreographed a dance to B*Witched’s “Blame it on the weather man” whose chorus repeats, “the rain goes on, on and on again” I loved it. It was a birthday that I will always remember with such distinctness because of its uniqueness. Rain on my birthday. Best present ever.

Rain in Seattle is not warm rain. I was excited to come here for school but no one explained that there are different types of rain. I grew to hate this dismal, depressing rain. I still kinda do.

But I am grateful for the realization I made today: I love warm rain and wherever I settle down will have warm rain. I will be out there with my kids though dancing and singing praying the rain will continue into the night so that we can all fall asleep to the universal sound of rain on roof and windows.