It's raining. It's pouring. The old man is snoring....

Today is the Portland Marathon, oh how I respect all the runners today! Not only is it 26.2 miles, IT IS POURING RAIN. I'm talking monsoon weather, fall is here!

It's funny how different people have different opinions about rain. My mom says her thoughts here. And in the northwest we have a lot of it, especially in the Fall/Winter months.

My love for rain has changed with my geography.

Nevada rain is usually thunderstorm weather. In the summer, when it's been 100 degrees all day and the concrete is too hot to walk on with your bare feet you can expect it. You've been out all day at the lake or around town in an air conditioned car hanging with friends. Then it hits. You can see it rolling in over the biggest little city. The dark puffy clouds form and like a needle to a balloon it just explodes. The sounds bounces off the mountains and the concrete cools with this undeniable smell. It's definitely the wet concrete smell I love, but it has to be hot concrete or it doesn't smell.

When I was little I remember my grandfather telling me during a huge thunder storm, "God is up there bowling. We get to hear him!" I think I was at the age where I was scared of the loud thunder and I remember all the fear just washing away picturing god bowling like my grandpa and I did at the old Reno Starlight bowl:) And it really does sound like bowling:)

Anyways, back to the northwest. The terrain and climate has changed my rain. And honestly my first year here (back in 98) it was very hard to get use to. It rained a lot my first fall/winter, actually 26 days consecutively. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is a lot of overcast wetness when you are in it. And it's funny because I remember locals telling me, "this is not how it is here, this is a lot for even us." And up here in Portland it's kind of like Alaska with their snow. You know how they are suppose to have 57 words for snow up there? Well I think we have about 57 different types of rain here. Sprinkling, pouring, misting, drenching, drizzling, storming, etc just to name a few. And with our rain locals do not carry an umbrella, another fact I learned my first year here:)

Anyways, there is comfort in the rain coming. You know all is right with the world. I mean it is so consistent here. EVERY fall when it starts, and EVERY spring when it ends. God has this schedule for us, some consistency which is comforting for some reason right now. Something repeating and not being foreign. Rain is a given every single year.

Sometimes I do think god has his days and nights mixed up with the rain. Like it would be prettier if it rained at night and we had some clear skies during the day. It seems the rain stops right as the stars come out and then it begins again the second the sun rises. Or maybe this is because he wants us to see the stars:)

Either way, I love the rain and how it nourishes the grass and flowers, it washes away the dirt, and leaves everything touched and clean. It smells differently here. My hot concrete smell is non-existent. It is more cool and clean smelling, and the soothing.

This morning I realized.....and I don't know if I do this every single time it rains (but maybe I do), I was singing in my head this morning. Oh my, what if I am always singing this when it rains......another quirk for me I guess:)

I was singing a childhood song.....

It's raining, it's pouring;
The old man is snoring.
Bumped his head
And he went to bed
And he couldn't get up in the morning.

And all was right with my life and I was ready to get out there in the beautiful rain and cheer for some runners. So everyone send happy warm thoughts to all the runners out there in their monumental challenge today of 26.2 miles in the pouring cold rain. And Happy Sunday!