A Day Without Rain!

It hasn't rained today. Who knew that would be such a big deal?

I love the rain. I loved the wet, drizzly days when I lived in Seattle. Occasionally it was heavy enough to need an umbrella, but most of the time, it was a slow soak, the kind that curls and then frizzes your hair and falls coolly on your skin, leaving little cold pinpricks. I liked the gradual chill of soaking clothes--first damp, then wet, then drenched.

I loved the impressive lightning and thunder-filled rainstorms of Missouri. Some of those lightning storms were sensational. We were told a field visible through our large living room window had all kinds of mineral deposits in it and that it attracted the lightning. I don't know if that's true, but I do know there was something other-worldly out there. I liked to sit by the big window and watch. Rain would be coming down in sheets. The air was gray and thick. Thunder would shake the house and great flashes of light would appear to touch the ground just twenty or thirty yards away. I should have been scared, but instead I was excited. There were no marks left on the earth, so it probably wasn't actually touching down, but it looked like it. It was our own laser show right through our living room window.

I love driving in the rain--both the sprinkles that come down slow and make the wipers screech across the windshield if they're moving too quickly and the downpours that windshield wipers can't keep up with no matter how fast they move. The car becomes a cocoon, isolated from the rest of the world.

I've always loved the sound of rain on the roof. It's as good as a lullaby when you're going to sleep.

And the smell! Is there anything better than the clean smell of the world right after it's rained? I think not. And it doesn't really matter where you are. Whether it's wet concrete or wet earth, it makes you want to stay there and breathe deeply.

Because I love the rain, I was surprised to find that this last few weeks I've got completely weary of it. I wanted the rain to stop coming into my kitchen and I wanted to feel warm. The wet cold chilled me to the bone and for two or three days straight, I couldn't get warm. I needed some sunshine.

Well today the sunshine came. I felt warm. The puddles began to dry up and no unwelcome water came into the house.

The kids have some friends over and they're out making s'mores at the firepit and I can hear them laughing through the open windows.

Unfortunately, the beautiful day hurt the turnout for Authorpalooza. I can't blame anyone. It was the first nice day in ages and I can understand wanting to be outside and not in a bookstore. The manager made the rounds several times apologizing for the poor turnout. It picked up a little at the end, but wasn't as busy as they usually are for these events.

But that's okay because we saw the sun. For one whole day. Hopefully we all soaked in enough to last awhile. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow.