Rain

I love rain. When I was a kid, I loved rain so much I couldn't understand why adults didn't like it, why they complained so bitterly as if the clouds descended upon them and them alone in some spiteful natural vengeance against their hair styling beauty products or high fashion name brands. I guess I kind of kept it in my head that I wouldn't turn into one of those adults, but even so for the last many rainfalls I've not been pleased because it means I have to walk to the bus stop and work when it's a sheeting downpour. My shoes always tend to be the biggest sponges on Earth, and so now when I see rain, I think of how soggy my toes are going to be for the day, or how under the weather the weather will make me.

But, when it comes down to the thing itself, I still love rain.

This morning in particular is the perfect kind of rainy. The window in my kitchen is open and the contrast of how stale it is inside to how fresh it is out there is overwhelming. I can't even say what it smells like. It smells like home, I guess. All the different smells of soil and plants and bark and flowers and nature just mingle to create this fresh, North East Canadian scent.

When I was in Wollongong, the rain was really different, but equally wonderful. In winter it was a bit different, but my first encounters with rain in their autumn was a rainfall so polite you couldn't feel it or even see it unless you looked at a puddle and saw the water drops. It was like the cloud just hung there and the condensation appeared from mid air all around you. I know exactly what it smelled like there though: eucalyptus. You can't really smell the eucalyptus unless it's raining. It's the most wonderfully refreshing aroma that no bath salt or hand cream can replicate.

But if I were to compare Wollongong rain to Chambly rain and have to choose a preference, I think I would still go with Chambly rain. Canada might be boring on the visual and aural levels, but it's definitely got the olfactory (and gustatory, but in completely unrelated matters) down. If I weren't so worried about getting sick right now, I would go roll around in the grass like I did when I was five and look into the pure white sky to try and see the raindrops before they fall. Alas, I'm stuck inside doing homework.

I knew I should have gotten rid of those spiders in my windows...