Today, Kathy and I were literally Singing in the Rain. Well, almost. I’m battling a terrible ear ache today and couldn’t sing a note- and Kathy was busy driving us through very busy Chicago traffic . . . but if it hadn’t been for all that, we would have been singing the Hallelujah Chorus at the top of our lungs this afternoon as we drove through two – count ‘em, TWO – rainstorms. . . one on our way down to visit Trevor and Megan Parker and their beautiful baby son Graham, and the second as we returned home from there. It was wonderful to see the Parkers again and to finally see their son for the first time- but will all due respect to our dear friends, it was almost as exciting to see rain again after so many weeks without it.
Actually, there was a tiny little thunderstorm cell that rumbled close to Racine a couple of weeks ago, just as I was driving home from an appointment in Kenosha — and when I spotted this rainfall off to the west (which at first I thought was just dust being blown around by wind) I actually drove a couple of miles out of my way just to be able to drive though the rain and actually turn on my windshield wipers for the first time since the summer began. And it’s good that I took that little detour right into the storm because it pretty much missed all of Kenosha and Racine, basically plowing through the little town of Somers which is perched right between them. And otherwise, we’ve been watching forlornly as occasional rain has popped up either to the north or the south of us, but never right here in southern Wisconsin. And of course, the longer the drought lasts, the more it starts to feel like there simply won’t be any more rain ever because the sky has forgotten how to make it rain.
It’s weird how rain can mean so many different things, depending on when its raining or where or how much. It can be something unwelcome that interrupts a picnic or a ballgame. And it can be downright destructive if there’s way too much of it or if it falls too ferociously. But in the summer of 2012, rainfall is more precious than anything. . . and a rainy day is a happy day indeed.