Rain!

I meant to write about the first rain of the season in Berkeley but I went home the same day so I didn't have time. If the first rain makes the world seem clearer to me, then midnight walks in the rain are my catharsis and cleansing.

The thing I love about rainy days are the intervals in between and after the rain. The whole world is quieter and cleaner. I feel like a hush has been cast over the world. Walking through Strawberry Creek, this was especially true. I felt like I did when I was seven, hanging out under the pine trees in a timeless wonder-world. It's probably one of the only times that I still think of the town where I was born. Everything's safe. The smell of wet earth and wet pavement and wet vegetation come together to make what I associate with the essence of natural life. [I find that if the temperature is right I can recreate this with a garden hose, but in Berkeley I don't have a yard so it doesn't ever happen...]

Tonight I left a friend's place only to find that it was raining - and not just drizzling. So I took a walk in it. Listening to the rain actually hit everything, seeing the water fall from the sky, and feeling it hit me, I continued to walk and walk...feeling both purified and lightened all at once. Maybe this is why baptism is so popular? Eventually I did get soaked and freezing so I retreated to my car and drove home. Driving in the rain during the day only feels cool because I know I could be sopping wet outside and am instead cruising down the street with the heater on, but other than that driving in the rain is somewhat terrifying. Perhaps this is because the roads in Nipomo are not very well-paved let alone well-maintained. I caught a giant puddle on Mesa that I don't remember being there, but they have fixed the spot that constantly floods on Osage so that was nice. At any rate I was glad to make it home alive because sometimes I think driving + rain is about as bad as driving + drunk.

Now I'm listening to a massive downpour from the comfort of my own room, sitting underneath my down comforter. It is perhaps the only place that, when it is raining like crazy, I feel safe, warm and dry. Not only is it well-insulated (and the heating is free), but I have a big window where I can look out on everything and doors that lock...for some reason I feel like the isolation that rain brings means we're more susceptible to the wolves and other critters out there. Yes, I know that they are all hiding in their holes too, but I still feel that way! I'm far enough from the power lines that I don't think they are going to fall on me (not that it matters because the power shuts off all the time out here), and it's the top of the hill so it won't flood. None of these things sound particularly compelling on their own, but I still feel like it's the safest place in the world when it's raining.