Dear Friend,
I had the most interesting conversation with a friend over the last few days via the Twitter social network. It was about the sound of things hitting the window.
Not rocks, of course. But bugs! And later the talk turned to the sound of raindrops on a window.
We had a lot of fun joking about the bugs, which seem to have recently hatched all at once outside of my home. In the evenings they try to commit suicide by colliding with my windows in an attempt to reach the Valhalla of lights that illuminate my ceiling. All of this occurs, of course, in those moments just before I retire for the evening.
For all of the fun we had talking about this, however, I think that I was most touched by our discussion of rain.
Rain can be depressing to me. Especially when it is accompanied by gray skies and cold winds. But a warm, steady rain can be a cleanser of my soul.
I recounted to my friend an experience that I had during a visit to the rain forests of eastern Costa Rica.
I was there with others, ostensibly to go fishing. But when our trip was called off one day due to a torrential downpour, I was secretly pleased.
Not being from the area, I had never quite experienced a rain like they had that day, or at least I had never seen a rain that strong that sustained itself for so long. Imagine a thunderstorm downpour, but without the thunder, the winds, or the sudden excitement of approaching danger. Instead, imagine a solid downpour, vertical, steady, warm and completely peaceful.
Anywhere else, the immense quantities of water that fell from the sky would have quickly pooled and then run in torrents across the ground, causing flood damage, and eventually, pain and sorrow for someone. In this place, however, the rain just seemed to disappear into the ground. There were a few puddles, of course, but mostly, the apparently spongy ground just swallowed it up.
I just stood there and watched it fall. Even more, I smelled and felt this rain, or at least the mist that filled the air of the porch where I was as I stood and experienced this moment. The air was warm, but not hot, somewhat like in your shower at home. The air was humid, but not uncomfortably so. In fact, everything about this moment and this place was completely refreshing.
The image of me standing there that day has stayed with me for years. I have been to Costa Rica on four other occasions, and have visited many of that country’s impressive sites. I have also traveled to many other exciting and impressive locales. Yet never before or since has a simple rain shower so stirred my soul, or pleased me so, as it did that rainy day in the jungle.
I wish you all only pleasant rains and warm, blue sky days from this day onwards.
All the best,
Hugh
