Rain

All I hear about on the news and radio is complaining about the amount of rain we have had this month. I don't know what they are talking about. I love summer rain. I love the smell of it. A smell of the Earth washing itself clean of it's imperfections. I love the smell of the rain as it hits the hot pavement. And strangely enough I love the smell of a new plastic umbrella. It's also very similar to the smell of the shopping bags from The Children's Place, but I digress.

I love the sound the rain makes as it hits the pavement. I have opened all of the windows in my house (at least the ones that are not painted shut) to hear the rain better. It makes for wonderful sleeping.

Even more enjoyable is listening to the rain as it hit the roof of my car. It brings me back to a time in my childhood when I was about 13 years old. My parents were big into Boy Scouting and there was one occasion we went to camp and it was raining so hard, the area we were supposed to set up our tents was flooded. So instead of going home, we slept in the station wagon. I think that was the night I got the best sleep of my life.

Raining and camping have always seemed to go hand and hand for my family. No matter what if the Banis family was camping it was raining at least half of the time. We always made the best of it. And we became such experts at camping in the rain that while others were soaked we were quite happy. I have so many fond memories of those times.

So while you might be complaining about another day of rain, I am celebrating because for me this is the best weather ever, as long as my basement does not flood.