Save it for a Rainy Day

I really hate it when rainy days are made the bad guy. Rainy days are really responsible for slums, hard times, and break ups? Go ahead, you can blame all your troubles on precipitation if you like, but not me. I love rainy days. I have loved them a very long time. Puddle jumping, wet jeans, and wellies are the things my dreams are made of. My heart quickens as clouds gather and start to rumble in. Nothing thrills me more than seeing a sheet of rain flooding down like a monsoon. Growing up in our back yard my brother and I would pretend we were captains of the cloudy troops in the sky. We would scamper around the back yard, brandishing our sticks, ordering the clouds to take over any bit of sky peeking through. We whooped and hollered until the entire sky was grey. Then we would set sail in our sky ship: the top of the slide our crows nest, the monkey bars our breezeway, and of course the swings were sails we had to pump so we could get off the ground. We wore captain hats of newspaper and holstered rubber band guns through our belts. Yes, we were captains of the clouds, the ones responsible for ushering in the storm. Those were some of the best days, those days of summer rain.

Sadly though, this summer has been a complete dry spell. Not even a single day of rain for months. I cannot believe how deprived of rain we have been in Utah. No wonder so many fires are on the rage. Up until today I had almost lost hope. The sprinklers have not been a worthy substitute for rain, not by a long shot. Which is why I was so delighted when the skies darkened and gloomed. I was craving it. I yearned for it. I could feel the prickles of my arm hair raise with humidity and smell the moisture heavy in the air. Oh rain! The moment I felt the electric hum of thunderstorm I wanted to dawn my captain's hat once more. I wanted to wield my stick and prance around the front yard commanding in my troops. I refrained however. Instead I simply wrapped K.B. up in a warm blanket and parked on the front porch. There we sat as Mother Nature gave the world a shower. Finally the air would be clean, the grass would be green, and I would have some puddles to revel in. The much needed water would help quench some of the wildfires. The ground would sop and squelch underfoot. The windowpanes would rattle with thunder and the pat, patter of drops agianst the glass would send me off into one of the best sleeps I have had for weeks. Thank you rain. Thank you.