Rain Ramblings

One of the best parts about living in the desert is the summer rainstorm. I'm sure Karen Carpenter wasn't singing about the rain when she sang, "there's a kind of hush all over the world tonight", but it sure does paint a nice picture. A hush really does fall over the whole world, it would seem, and far off in the distance the compelling roar of thunder beckons me out to my front porch every time. It's the moment right before your lips meet his, the aroma of the baking bread in the oven, the agony of trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve--it's all about the anticipation. Well, maybe not just that, because something magical also happens at the moment the first raindrops fall. I mean the actual kiss, the slice of bread and the opened Christmas presents are all pretty great, too, right? But the moment my radar detects a storm--the dark clouds rolling in, the hushed silence, the first roar of thunder--I squeal, run back inside, open all the windows, turn on the tea kettle, grab a quilt and then I'm hugging my legs into my chest sitting on the easy chair that looks out over the ensuing storm.

As a kid I was no less enamored by rainstorms. I once attempted to sleep in our old jeep cherokee parked in our driveway during an awesome storm just so I could fall asleep to the sound of rain on the quasi-tin roof. But the rain stopped around midnight and truth be told, I was relieved. I was miserably uncomfortable in my sleeping bag contorted on the backseat. It had been a noble effort.

I remember confiding to one of my guy friends when I was a freshman in highschool that my ultimate fantasy was to have my first kiss happen in the rain. So of course when I became a girlfriend for the first time he took it upon himself to inform my new boyfriend of this erotic (at least for a sheltered 15 year old girl) fantasy of mine. Well, don't you know, I lived in a desert back then, too, and we were hard pressed to find a rainstorm. Despite the climate facts, my boyfriend took this information very seriously unbeknownst to me. I just noticed that he seemed well-apprised of the weather forecast day to day. It wasn't until I went to watch one of his soccer games one afternoon and I was out on the sidelines talking to him while he packed up his gear that everything was illuminated. Suddenly one of his teammates yelled across the field, "Hey! It looks like rain!" Of course I knew what that was all about. My secret was out! There was of course no rain that night, or the next day, or the day after that, but would you believe it that at the first hint of rain one day shortly thereafter my boyfriend showed up on my front porch, rang the doorbell, and when I opened the door said, "It's raining..." with a special little sparkle in his eye. And don't you know that I slammed the door in his face and imagined myself all kinds of jilted, telling myself he was a sex-crazed menace. Hindsight is 20/20...I should have kissed him.

I'm conditioning my children to respond to the advent of rain the same way I do...with lots of squealing and excitement and dashing about. Rain just makes us want to sing! So naturally, I sing the first song that comes to mind: "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!"....blah, I'm snoring singing this meaningless tune. So then I switch to: "Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day!"...but that's a bunch of drivel. Why would I tell the rain to go away? But one day I discovered the lovely little ditty called "Rain is Falling All Around". Ah yes, finally, a rain song that I could with a clear conscience teach to my children. So, psssst! Pass it on--this song is WAY better then those other rain songs:

1. Rain is falling* all around,
   On the housetops, on the ground.
   Rain is falling on my nose,
   On my head and hands and toes.
2. *Alternate phrases: Sun is shining
   Wind is blowing
   Leaves are falling
   Snow is falling

Not to mention, it's good for all seasons! We now have a trusty go-to song for all occasions that are in one way or another affected by any kind of weather (I'm sure you could add a verse for sleet, hail, hurricanes or fireballs). It's every man's dream. By the way, this is found in the LDS primary children's songbook.

Apparently there's a word for people like me. We're called pluviophiles. By definition: (n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days. There's something profound in just having the proper diagnosis, isn't there? Are you a fellow pluvi?

p.s. I did finally get that kiss in the rain. It was pretty good. 
p.p.s. Go listen to Chopin's Prelude: Op. 28, No. 15 in D Flat Major, otherwise known as Raindrop Prelude. It's almost as good as listening to the rain itself.