There’s rain … and there’s RAIN !

Last night’s rain started in the wee hours of the morning. I have a tin roof on my little house and I awoke to the music of wet drops drumming a hearty tune. It was a comfort and a relief since our area has been in drought conditions for almost a year.

I drifted back to sleep and when I woke for the second time it was 7:30 and I realized that it was still raining, but very softly. This is unusual for our part of the country. I come from New England where 2 or 3 days of a gentle, steady rain is common. Here, in the South, however, we are more apt to get heavy downpours that last for a few hours, followed by a quick return to sunshine.

I noticed this difference when we first moved here 30 years ago. I was in my car with the radio on and I saw a sprinkling of rain on my windshield. All of a sudden the music stopped and the DJ announced that we were in for a torrential rain and to pull over and stop if we were driving.

I couldn’t believe my ears. What sort of wimpy place was this where people were actually stopping by the road sides rather than drive in a little bit of rain? Those were my thoughts just seconds before the heavens opened up and I was awash in so much water that the windshield wipers were useless. NOW I understood and I carefully pulled over to join the rest of the “wimps” in their stopped cars.

I’ve never made light of rain storms since that day and “caution” has become my catchword. I even came to understand what my young co-worker meant when she said, “I used to jump into bed with Granny when I saw a ‘big black cloud’ coming up”. She was referring to that ominous blackish-gray sky that precedes a storm.

Even as I write this I realize that the quiet “New England” type rain that I was enjoying this morning has stopped. I live in an area called “The Sandhills” so it won’t be long before the moisture is absorbed and we’ll be back to our usual dry state.

I love the rain, as do many poets and lyricists who give homage to it. Remember Shakespeare‘s famous lines from The Merchant of Venice? “The quality of mercy is not strain’d, it falleth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes”.

A fine note on which to end this post. Thanks for your company.