Rain

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved the rain.

It started when I was in the second grade. Rain was more common back then than it is now. There was a day where a storm was so bad, school got canceled. I spent the day with my father, tripping in puddles as we spent the day at his station on Taraval Street. The walls were thin in the building, and I heard every sound of the storm outside. The soft taps on the walls slowly made me drift off to sleep as I read my chapter book.

It wasn't until the fifth grade when rain was almost every month. I looked forward to those days the most as if they were a holiday. Our classroom was on the third floor of the building, so we got a good view of the schoolyard. While everyone was paying attention in class, I looked out the window. I stared at the huge puddles that rippled. I thought it was so beautiful; I couldn't stop the urge to run down and be in the middle of the storm. To feel the droplets soak my hair and the light feeling under my boots when I jumped in a puddle.

After we were released from school, my friends and I would stay until five. On rainy days, no one was outside but us. We only knew the first few lines of "Singing in the Rain," but it didn't matter to us. We were dancers; we were singers. The rain made every possible feeling of gracefulness true.

That was when I decided I loved rain.

Whenever I see rain, I think of those memories. I think of the moments I want to experience in the rain. Getting married, walking on New York streets, getting through the pile of books I've always wanted to read.

I saw rain for the first time in two years this week. I had forgotten my love for it, and not having seen it for a while made me fall in love even more. I stood on Mission street with my watermelon umbrella, closing my eyes and listening. If someone were to rob me in that instant, I believe they would have gotten away with it easily.

I get that rain isn't the most loved weather. I confuse myself as to why I love it so much.

There are just some parts of life and nature that make you feel at home wherever you are.

Even if they make you slip sometimes. Literally.

-Chloe