But It Comes With a Free Car Wash!

Okay, so not everybody loves rain the way that I do. Moi suffers from a conflicting love-hate relationship with the elements, while Doris Rose says she's allergic to barometric changes and they give her a big case of grumpitis.

So I guess it's just me.

I love-love-love rain! I adore thunder. Lightning is so viscerally thrilling that I practically pee myself when it flashes across the sky--but you know, in the good way. Seeing gray clouds making their ominous way across the horizon makes me all tingly inside. There's just something about a rainy day that gives me permission to put down whatever annoying task I'm working on, sit on the floor and watch the fireworks approach. Mmmm...love that Mother Nature.

Today's rain came with all the bells and whistles, including pretty vistas. As I got into the car, I settled into my captain's chair with happiness in my heart and prepared myself to enjoy the coming downpour. The tricky drops eluded me, though--as I turned south on my 75-mile journey to work, the sky started clearing. Poop. I had to content myself for the rest of the trip with singing really loudly to my iPod and wondering if I'd still be the same person after the world discovered my incredible talent. Will I keep that down home, laid back attitude or will I get all snobby? And what will my genre be? That will definitely dictate whether I'll move west to L.A. or east to Nashville. Will my friends come to my concerts and get up on stage to sing with me? How much money will I make? So much to consider. But we're talking about rainstorms here, so let's focus.

The rain didn't come until later in the day but let me tell you, it was a doozy. It arrived with a pounding fury just as I was administering an auditory processing test to a student. This test is so serious about wanting kids to process information through listening alone that I have to stand behind the student to give him the test items so that he can't see my lips move. Glory be. So in the middle of telling him to put the small blue circle on top of the large white square, the rain started. As it hammered more persistently on the metal roof, I had to get louder and louder, finally reaching a level just shy of shouting. I could have stopped the testing, but I didn't wanna. I wanted to be done with the durn thing and go home. Finally, the kid turned around and said, "You know, I really can't hear you anymore." What?! Sissy boy. So we stopped, and as luck would have it he was a pleasant kid who wasn't too bad to spend non-testy time with. Eventually we were able to finish the testing and then he was free to frolic away with the other little angels. Later the principal told me that he was prone to calling her "an effing bitch." Nice. But there I go, digressing again.

There was more rain and some thunder and a very interesting drive home with only minimal hydroplaning. By the time I got back to town, the clouds had started breaking up and the sun was giving that nummy glow that illuminated every leaf and flower in a glisteny, post-rainy way. It was beautiful.

I embraced each moment of that storm with the fervor of a desert dweller. I know that every drop we get is a bargain made with nature, with the price coming due this summer in the form of wildfires threatening to destroy half the state's acreage. We'll wish we had this rain then, I know. But in the meantime, I'll just turn up my iPod, roll down my windows, and let the rain fall.