Rain

I love rain.

That's why I live in a rainforest.

We have many words for rain in Southeast Alaska, but my favorite kind of rain is a soft drizzle. I enjoy sunny days greatly and downpours are thrilling, but a gentle mist is when my soul is most at rest.

I thought about doing a top ten list of why I love rain and then I realized lists are silly and only useful in the morning when I'm organizing my day.

So these are just my ramblings about why rain is a delight:

I'm allergic to the sun.
This is probably a big one. I break out in a rash, get sick to my stomach and a horrible headache when I get too much sun. It made for awesome family trips to Florida where I got to wear long sleeves, pants and a hat. My eldest inherited this fabulous gift from me.

The best songs involve rain.
All my favorite songs either involve rain or coffee.

• Robert Earl Keen Not a Drop of Rain  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlsBiAIQ3jM
• Andrew Duhon  It's Gonna Take a Little Rain  https://vimeo.com/37927947
• Dar Williams The Beauty of the Rain  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRoOqKf7uds
• Lyle Lovett If You Were to Wake Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITgB8vcuIlE

I love Kierkegaard
The Danish theologian Kierkegaard had issues and I'm way oversimplifying his theology of despair, but I'll do it anyway. Kierkegaard talks about the despair of possibility and the despair of impossibility. There is the paralysis of too much opportunity and the paralysis of no choices.

I feel like sunny days are slightly despairing. They offer too much. I feel torn between a million things that I want to do so I suck all there is out of the day. My crabbiest days tend to be the sunny ones. I will also admit that weeks of being socked in with the clouds can lead one to despair, but at least you can curl up with a good book.

A day of drizzle is a fine tension of opportunity and limits. The day does not expect too much out of me but still offers a loveliness that should be explored and enjoyed.

Drizzle keeps life in perspective
Sunny days throw everything out of perspective. The breathtaking beauty still catches me off guard and leaves me speechless, but it doesn't seem fair to have such amazing grandeur when there is so much horrific sorrow in the world.

A day of drizzle allows me to hold the sorrow of the slaying in Orlando in my heart along with the beauty and joy of life. It keeps the paradox of existence balanced without allowing me to slide too far in one direction.

There is grief and joy wound up together in life and nothing captures that better than a good day of drizzle where the mountain caps peek out of the clouds modestly and the tiny wildflowers stand humbly with drops of rain on their leaves.

Rain settles the dust
I would bottle the smell of rain if I could. It's my favorite scent as the earth is settled and the dust vanquished.

I love rain.

Not as much as my chicken, who I continue to
cuddle even though she is huge, but still a great deal. I appreciate the sun, but it's the rain that keeps me sane.