Oooh, look outside

It's a little bit pathetic, but at only a quarter past midnight I am super tired. I blame this fully on my lack of internet exposure over the last week. The computer was taken in on Monday, it came home on Friday (at which point I was so desperate for the net I actually hooked up this other cpu we have that is guaranteed to freeze after only 15 minutes or so of use). In that time, I could feel the inevitable happening: my ability to stay up late (when my thinking is best) slowly slithering away to take refuge in a shelter made of cozy blankets and comfy pillows.

It rained earlier tonight, like Really Rained. For twenty minutes there was a solid hum of raindrops bouncing off of the cars in the parkinglot. The rain came down so hard it was actually raining back Up. It was so awesome. I love Oregon weather, you never know what coulld end up happening. I especially love Oregon Rain.

I watched the entire storm, almost from the beginning, and definitely to the end where it relaxed back into a normal drizzle. When it started, I was achieving the perfect slouch in our armchair. I had just settled myself in and uttered that oh-so-important "Aaahhh" when suddenly it sounded like somebody had turned on a shower in the sky. I jumped up and opened the front door and sure enough: Rain. Real Rain. Raindrops so big and falling so fast, the air looked like it was an old VHS with tracking problems. I could hear the steady drone of the rain hitting the metal car roofs, the walls of the apartments, and bouncing off the pavement. I could smell that perfect blend of clean, grass, and earth. I could almost taste the moisture in the air. After weeks of muggy thickness, the atmosphere had finally had enough and said "Hey dudes, I gotta lose some weight" and just let it all go in one freak rainstorm that happened right over my neighborhood. Puddles formed in mere minutes. A breeze blew in between the streaks of raindrops to remind me that it was, in fact, still summer and therefore: still warm.

I leaned against the door frame and just watched. I jumped outside for a few minutes, just to have a moment of pure "I'm home." There is nothing on this earth like standing in the Oregon rain. The drops are huge and yet sometimes when it sprinkles you can literally walk between them. Fat little raindrops worm into your hair and streak down your face so that even though you're happy, you cry just a little for a friend you once promised to share this very experience with. The only difference between the few tears you allow yourself and the rain is the taste of salt. When my moment in the rain was over I took two steps back and was again sheltered from the late night summer weather tantrum, and as I eased my way back inside, the rain eased off until like not so very long before, there was merely a lazy drizzle falling--just enough moisture to keep the earth from dying of thirst.

Drip drip drop little Ap...er....July Showers something something something to that Disney tune.