Rain

 

Refreshing - Reviving
Water carries Life
Sprinkling Rain – Pounding Rain
A Rushing River – The Calm Lake Surface
Carving a Canyon – Flooding a Valley
One tiny drop upon my face
The ocean I wade into
Water – Force of Life
The clouds are heavy – My arms are open
Rain down on Me
Refresh the dry and cracking places
Fill the void  - cause me to overflow again
Rain down on Me

Rain is pretty amazing when you stop to think of it. The collection of tiny water droplets collecting and getting heavy in the clouds until they begin to fall. I remember as a kid realizing that the sound of rain was actually the sound of rain drops hitting something… the sound of rain in my house sounded different than the sound of rain at my grandparent’s house, because the roof was different. My grandparents house also had an attic, and that space muffled the sound I could hear in my bedroom. The sound of the rain while in the attic was loud, but not nearly as loud as the pounding rain hitting the metal roof of the chicken coop or the shed where Grandma stored all the food she had canned that summer. In one place Phil and I lived we couldn’t figure out what the sound was in one distinct spot…then when hiking and looking down at the building we discovered a metal bucket had been left on the roof. The rain hitting the bucket sounded different than the rain hitting the roof. When acorns happened to fall in that bucket…it echoed…and so we moved the bucket!

I remember listening to the rain in the forest; rain hitting the tree leaves and branches, in the open field the sound was of the drops hitting the mud and puddles. I wondered if I could get far enough away from any sound and in a place where there was nothing but grass for the rain to hit – would the rain have any sound then?

We all know the sound of rain hitting the windows and the sound of rain being splashed up by tires while we drive or ride in a car. The sound changes with the type of road, the amount of traffic and how heavy the storm is. I know distinctly the sound of rain on a tent. Going to sleep to the sound of rain drops hitting the tent is nice, but waking up wet is not!  I have a few, “less-than-wonderful”, memories of camping in the rain. I remember once, camping with my girl scout troop and waking up in the early morning to absolute silence. There were no birds, no sound of wind or anything.  I remember listening and hearing only the sound of myself and my friends breathing. We woke up to several inches of snow and I remember the realization that snowflakes did not make sound when they landed. Another camping memory is the sound of it beginning to rain while sitting around the campfire in the evening. The sizzle sound of the drops hitting the fire and the coals.

I like the sound of rain softly falling and I like the sound of a downpour, as long as I’m home, warm and dry in my house! I like the sound of rain while I watch a fire burn in the fireplace, hear the crackling sounds and feel the warmth. I like the feeling of swimming in the rain. In college my favorite mornings were those where I would do my lap swim workout in the rain. Your body is hot from swimming and the rain is so much colder than the pool water. It was refreshing and even if it rained hard enough to sting just a little, the feeling of moving through the water while new water was added was a marvelous feeling. The whistle of the lifeguard if they saw lightning was always an unwelcome interruption to me.

I remember one of my boys thinking that the sky was leaking once when it rained. He had just starting talking in sentences and after a long summer with no rain, I guess he had forgotten what it was. We were playing at the park that autumn when it began to sprinkle. He became instantly concerned and stared up at the sky, “Oh no, what is leaking?” he asked me. This was my very articulate, deep-thinking son, who has always asked the most profound questions. I remember he observed that the clouds could look different at different times while it was raining and he wanted to know why the rain didn’t look different too. He is also the one that asked me where the birds go when it rains, and whether or not their feathers being wet affect their ability to fly. He asked why the worms come out of the lawn when it rains and if the birds are smart enough to know this will happen and adjust their behavior accordingly.

Of course, there is also the distinct smells we associate with rain. The air smells differently during a summer rain than a winter rain. My son pointed out once that it is not the rain we are smelling, rather it is the earth’s response to the rain.  Ha!  It is true! The smell of a dog’s wet fur surely has more to do with the dog than the rain! 

Think of all the places you’ve been in the rain. I’ve felt the warm big drops of rain showers in Hawaii, that dried quickly in the sun and yet stayed in the air and made it feel thick and warm. I’ve felt icy rain in the Sierra Nevada’s when the sky can’t choose between snow or rain. I remember the first time I was in Guatemala and experienced a sudden heavy rain that flooded the streets and left us wading through water, before turning to a light sprinkle and an opening of the sky like curtains made of clouds with the sun shining brilliantly. Another time the rain was so loud on the tin roof outside, I woke up thinking the room was shaking. The wind was howling and blowing the rain sideways! I’ve been in Wisconsin in the summer heat wishing it would rain just so the air could be relieved of its heavy heat….and I’ve been there after it rained and realized it didn’t help at all.  Once I noticed out my window of the airplane that it was raining. We dropped down through a layer of clouds and then the rain stopped. Hmm.

The taste of rain. My grandma once took my brother and I outside with umbrellas held upside down to catch the hail and rain. We came in and mixed it with fresh lemon juice and sugar. We sat next to the woodstove, wrapped in blankets and drank our lemony hail slushies.  I have tasted rain.

Especially I enjoy the feeling in the air and the look in the sky right after the rain has stopped. Everything seems fresher, revived and somehow more alive.