monsoon season

Those who know me well, know that (until recently) I haven't especially cared for the rain. It's not that I don't love the sound of it beating against the rooftop and window panes. It's not that I don't love the crisp, fresh smell of it, or the cool, invigorating feel of it as it kisses (or sometimes beats upon) my skin. So I guess It's not really the rain itself I haven't like. It's hard to put a finger on it, but I think it's more the way I most often end up feeling...inside...when it rains. I don't deal well with the dark clouds and dismal skies that generally accompany the rain. I oftentimes have a tenancy to feel despondent and weighed down by life as it is...so it's weird how even small things such as a gloomy day, for example, can amplify those feelings of discouragement. Anyway, I think it safe to deduce that I function best in the sun. John won my heart ten times over when he moved me to the sunshine state. Actually I think the sunshine state is Florida, ha ha...but it might as well be Arizona. It's pretty much all sunshine year round - barring a couple months known as monsoon season. Have you ever experienced monsoon season in Arizona? Let me just tell you something - and this is coming from one who doesn't especially care for the rain, remember? - if you've never been caught in an Arizona summer rainstorm, you haven't lived. It's really like nothing else I've ever experienced...how the rain beats down so hard and so fast...feeling, literally, as if somebody is above you, dumping buckets of water on your head. It's crazy how fast - and without any warning - it can start, and also how quickly -and without any signs of restfulness - it can just completely disappear. It never ceases to amaze me, how in just a matter of minutes, an entire river of water is created, where there hadn't previously been one. And what I love the absolute most about all of it...is being able to experience it with Ruby and Asher. Running through the rain, splashing in the puddles, getting soaked to the bone, and laughing hysterically with my kids - makes me feel like a kid all over again - which can ofttimes be the best anecdote to some of life's most disheartening and wearisome storms.