Beautiful, beautiful Spring...

At this time of year, I have more trouble sleeping than just about any other time, other than the night before a big vacation. I left the bedroom window open last night for the first time this year. I am a "white noise" woman, meaning that I have a small, noisy fan by my bedside running all night, as the noise triggers feelings of sleepiness and also drowns out any other sounds in our home/neighborhood. Without the fan, I'm a mess. When I travel, I struggle so much that I use the highest power earplugs.

Anyway, when I woke this morning and turned off the fan, I could hear this awesome Spring rain outside. I jumped right up, put on some garden clogs, grabbed an umbrella, and went out in my nightgown.

Rain in Springtime brings out so many good memories for me. I grew up living all over the country, but there is one commonality that connects all of my childhood memories...Spring Rain.

*In Oklahoma, rain falls fast and hard for 5 solid minutes. When you go outside, there are HUGE puddles that are full of dirt and mud. As a kid, you step into the puddle barefooted and the water is warm. Also, there is wind and thunder, which is one of those, "I'm kind of scared but love it!" feelings!

*In South Carolina, I have this memory of standing under the eaves of our house as the gush of rain caused the gutters to overflow rapidly. I remember standing behind a waterfall coming off the roof...and reaching my hand out through the fall. There, too, the water was warm.

*In North Carolina, we lived in a "rural" neighborhood, just outside of Greensboro. I remember hearing rain at night and being scared. It hit the roof so hard that the house actually vibrated.

*Also, in NC, when we lived in Jamestown, just outside of High Point, I remember being scared to go out, because there were so many kids in the neighborhood that were black. My grandmother had told me to avoid these people when I was 5 years old...and, being an obedient child, I avoided them. But, I wanted to go outside, too, and play in the rain. That memory is sort of sad.

*In Washington, we played in the woods beside our house with this huge crew of kids! See, we'd moved there from North Carolina and my parents had bought us real moccasins to wear when we played! Moccasins are NOT a good idea for kids in Washington, since everything is wet. My memory...the rain fell and you couldn't feel it. It was just a continuous mist.

This morning, the garden was so bright and green...and the tulips were bent over, heavy with water in their little hats. I just stood there in my nightgown, under our biggest umbrella. It was really nice.