I Think I Like When It Rains

Just to set the record straight right out of the gate, I LOVE when it rains. The title of the blog refers to a gem of a song by Willis that I've adopted as a bit of a ritual to play on mornings when I wake up when the rain is falling. This blog is titled in a small tribute to that talented group.

I've always liked when it rains, and I appreciate it much more deeply and intensely now that drought conditions in California appear to be permanent. 

Like the rain, I love reading, too. Growing up, the rain was an excuse to stay inside. When the rainy seasons came, which were reliable events when Silicon Valley was still mostly orchards, the rain would largely eliminate the option to go outside and play, or go to baseball practice, or "go find something to do" when mom had tired of the kids bickering or otherwise disturbing the peace of the suburban ranch style home she kept meticulously neat and organized.

It was just a little break. It took away some options and decisions to be made. Suddenly it was okay to relax on the couch with a stack of books, or play Atari for the entire afternoon, or watch VHS movies back to back -- or all of the above. 

Now my love of the rain is deeper and more profound. It mitigates, for a moment, the threat of climate change. It provides a respite, however brief, from the persistent thought of a future where there's little or none of it in this area; a future where the beaches around the Monterey Bay extend up into, around, or perhaps over the Santa Cruz Mountains and into the central valley and the whole of the west coast of the United States becomes one massive Mojave Desert.

So, when I wake up on mornings like this, where coming out of sleep I hear the raindrops hitting the shingles on the roof, bathing the leaves of the trees, and forming puddles in the garden, I find a moment of peace.