Playing in the Rain

It doesn't matter what stage of life I am in, I absolutely LOVE playing in the rain. I love jumping in puddles. I love watching the rainbows afterwards.

There is something so refreshing about playing in the rain. Something that makes life seem okay again. Maybe it's because I've still not learned how to be good at this being an adult thing, and playing in the rain is something kids do.

When I was younger, my family lived in Minnesota, and if you've ever lived in the mid-west you know every summer is full of storms. As long as there was no lightening, mom would let us play in the rain all we wanted. We would run around for what seemed like hours. (Time moves much slower when you're young) We never got bored. We would "swim" in the gutters like mermaids; to "wash" our hair we would stand on the rock under the neighbors rain gutter, where a full stream of constant water ran off the roof.

Well after awhile we moved, and we moved to a dessert like climate, where it never rained as much. Besides I was an "oh so mature" middle schooler, playing the rain was not on the top of my priority list. (although it secretly was) The problem was it never rained hard enough or long enough to really be able to go out and play. Not enough for any lasting memories to stick in my head.

Then, once again, my family moved. And now I was a senior in high school. So really all I wanted was to be a kid again, this growing up thing is kinda stressful sometimes. One spring day, (we'd moved to a much warmer climate so spring was much warmer than every other place I'd lived) it started to completely down pour. It was like the heavens had opened up and decided to tip buckets and buckets of water everywhere. I was at my friends house, took one look outside and proceeded to take all electronic devices out of my pockets. (so sad, I sometimes hate carrying a phone around. you can't just go play in water spontaneously.) within five minutes every minor in the house was outside playing. Jumping in puddles, determined to splash everyone with anything water we could, spinning around playing games trying to see who could stay up right on the slippery grass the longest; it was like being 7 again.

Now here I am, high school in the past, learning all these things you learn as a young adult, and sometimes I feel like I'm even getting the hang of this being an adult thing. But then spring comes, and early summer, and with it comes rain. Which means any chance I have, I get to be 7 again.