Let it rain

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It’s a rainy day here, a cold gray day. It’s funny before I became a “home owner” with a yard full of grass, plants and trees, rain was a buzz kill. The list of what rain prevented me from doing was longer than the list of what rain was good for. But as a grown-up, I understand rain. I understand that rain does more than simply replenish the earth with moisture, rain will also replenish our souls if you let it.

A cold, dreary, rainy day forces us to back-up, to re-prioritize our to-do list; no I can’t ride my bicycle but I can read a book. No I can’t mow the grass but I can go through my draws and clean out all those t-shirts one size too small that fifteen years later I still can’t wedge my fat ass into. I hope there is a Grateful Dead fan out there that will enjoy my treasures at the Goodwill Store.

A slow steady rain is good for all things. In time the grass will be longer, the air will be cleaner, the leaves will look greener and my tomatoes will seem plumper all because of a little rain. We have all seen the effects of too little or too much rain. Like life, extremes are rarely safe or healthy. Moderation and balance always advances the ball further. Now, it might not be as much fun but as I have seasoned over the years, seeing another sunrise has become more important to me than diving headfirst, without a helmet, into one last sunset.

This thought, this change, will seem boring to a twenty-five year old but in thirty years you will understand. I still have adventures rattling around in these old bones, an itch to explore and conquer. There are plenty of 3,000 foot mountains for me to climb on my bicycle and fly down the other side at 30 mph. The difference, now I am prepared to brake rather than expecting the unexpected. But as the seasons pass, these bones need more rest, more gray rainy days to recharge and reflect. To step back and appreciate where I have been and maybe where I am going.

So let it rain. Let the moisture sink into the parched earth. Let the rain wash on your face or catch an ancient drop on your tongue. Watch the Robins till the damp soil chasing fat earthworms for hungry babies. Or sit on your porch and listen to the soft melody played on damp leaf petals, a song like no other. Let it rain.

Only love can bring the rain
That makes you yearn to the sky
Only love can bring the rain
That falls like tears from on high

The Who – “Love, Reign O’er Me”