Last year while I was in school, a wonderful downpour occurred. Living in a place that the rain clouds have made an effort to avoid these last couple of years, I was rather happy about the rain. In fact, I was so enthusiastic that I proceeded to run around outside, reveling in the fact that I was getting utterly soaked. One of the other students, Savannah, was also happy about the rain and let herself be rained on. She had recently dyed her hair, and the rain was causing some of the dye to end up on her shirt, staining the originally white fabric pink. Eventually we both looked like drowned rats. Perhaps some of the kids thought we were insane, but who cares. It was RAINING!
Rain is something I've always been rather fond of. I suppose the love of rain starts with the wonderful things one can do with rain in their childhood. Rain makes the sand in the sandbox wet, and sand packs much better when wet. Rain makes the hard, dry ground into mud, so you can dig and mold it. Rain makes puddles, wonderful, glorious puddles, that one can splash in even though your parents don't want you getting your feet wet. Who cares about hypothermia and pneumonia? I'm gonna play! During the rainy season I seemed to always have dirt beneath my nails, because wet ground opens up so many possibilities.
Another nice thing about the rain was that it made the land of dead yellow weeds turn to a lush world of green. And as spring approached, a wide variety of wildflowers would make their appearance. Wildflowers, of course, are wonderful for obvious reasons. They're pretty, some of them have wonderful fragrances, and you can take some home or give them to a teacher. The tall grass would also grow when the rain came, and of course kids play in the tall grass despite being told not to.
Rain also brought out new creatures. I recall a billion times when I searched for frogs or toads. Sometimes the frogs ended up in the classroom, and one of us would volunteer to catch the frog and take it outside.
Of course, this opens up another story. I wanted to help bring the frog out, but another girl was already doing it. However, the frog employed one of its defensive maneuvers (don't you understand we're just trying to help you?), and peed in her hands. After that, she was all too eager to give the frog to me. Gee, thanks.
There was also another time when my friends and I found an enormous toad. It was about the size of a bull elephant, and was brown and bumpy. We thought we were so lucky to find such a huge toad, and the other kids were rather impressed at the monstrous amphibian as well.
Then there were worms. I remember when I didn't want to touch the slimy, wriggly things. My friends somehow persuaded to hold one of them. It wasn't so bad, and before I knew it I was the person who would see worms on the pavement, and would carry them to a safer place. Really, I was the sort of person who would pick up a lot of creepy crawlies. I draw the line at spiders, centipedes, millipedes, and other such icky things, though.
Roly polies are also creatures that like wetness. I recall at one time when my friends and I tried to race roly polies. Try getting them to move in a straight line, though. Oh no, they want to crawl to the edge of the table and then fall. With fourteen feet, you'd think they would be able to hold on.
Winter is approaching now, and I'm hoping that we get a good amount of rain this year. With the drought, we certainly need it. And of course, there's the wonderful smell of rain, the awesome lightning and thunder, the sound of falling rain, and the fact that, well, it's raining.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to move to the rain forest and dance in the rain.
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