When It's Raining

I was sitting on the porch this morning drinking my coffee enjoying the country quietness and the view. There is a pond on the property here, but I can't see it from the porch. As I sat there I heard a noise, it sounded like a thousand crickets chirping all at once. I thought 'what is that?' As I looked out across the pasture I could see it was pouring down rain and I realized the noise I was hearing was the rain hitting the pond, I had to smile. This is something you don't hear in the city because of all the other noises that block out such a sweet sound. The rain finally hit the porch area and it was welcomed and so refreshing.

The rain brings back many memories of years gone by. Some good some not so good. I remember once staying in an apartment with my oldest sons Dad and hearing the rain beat on the tin roof. That was a sound that I am sure would grate on the nerves of many. But to me it was a comforting sound. Reminding me that the one thing for sure we have no control over is the weather and Mother Nature.

One Memory of the rain that was not so good was when my oldest sons Dad pulled a gun on me. It was pouring down rain outside and he told me, ' One of us is leaving tonight , one way or the other.' I had my son to think of so I told his Dad that I would leave. I had no transportation so we had to leave on foot. He told me he was going into the bedroom to wait til I left and that I should not come to the door or else. I knew that the direction I was taking in our walk was the direction he would be looking at from the window in that room. I had one raincoat and put it on my son, it was late night as we went out the door. The rain was pouring and so cold, added to my fear, I was shaking. I made sure my son walked in front of me just in case his Dad decided to shoot it would be me that was hit. I made a quiet phone call before I left to a friend to pick us up, but I couldn't wait at the house because of his threat. We walked in the ditch, and I have to tell you I was so afraid that I wanted to get down and crawl in that ditch to be at least less of a target. By the time my friend found us I was soaked to the core and my spirit was in shreds. That he would put our son in such a position as to have me fear for our lives was unthinkable. I left him after that. I couldn't let my son have to go through something like that again.

I love the sound of rain, that one bad memory will not take the joy from me as I see, hear and smell a rain coming. Just as at times it 's a gentle rain and other times it is torrential, the events in our lives come the same. Some days we welcome the gentleness of our emotions, other days we want to just hide away from the pounding of our spirits. But the wonderful thing about the rainy days is the rainbows we see from time to time and too we can remember that the sun will soon come out again, the clouds will part to see blue skies. Our spirits soar and we can smile.