Yesterday it rained for the first time here. Or after a long time anyway. As I got out of my car to head to the hotel room, I could feel the gentle breeze blowing across my face. Playing truant with whatever hair I have left. With the Fall season just around the corner, some trees were a little ahead of the game and had already started shedding their leaves. The breeze carried one leaf and pasted it out on my windshield. It took another and blew it against my shoes, where it was stuck for a while before it found a way to go around me. The first raindrops quenched the thirst of the parched ground and gave that particular first rain smell.
For reasons that I cannot comprehend, the first rain always brings a smile across my face. A somewhat happy, somewhat sad moment. The first raindrops, the smell of the earth, the gentle breeze, carry me in their arms and transport me back in time to my childhood and across the seven seas to our home. To our backyard. To those happy times. To the smell of the fresh cut grass. To the happy place free of all the worries, far away from the rat race. Away from the daily grind, the stress of making the ends meet...and then some.
It is like I am looking into the crystal ball, the one that looks back into the present of my childhood. I can see the little kid coming back home after a long day at school. Shoulders sagging under the weight of the school bag. Coming home and mom waiting at the gate, worried that the weather is taking the turn for the worse and I am still at school. The yard is full of wet and yellow leaves that the tree doesn't want anymore. People on the street with just a hint of spring in their steps. Trying to get back home before the skies open up. People hunting for small umbrellas or their raincoats in their bag. People walking but always aware of the nearest shelter. All the street vendors scrambling to find a cover for their wares. Everybody in a rush but everybody a little cheerful. It is the first rain afterall.
These days, I hardly have time to look around and appreciate the nature. To stop and smell the proverbial roses. Just a hint of sadness at the things I have lost. The simple joys, the thrill of seeing the squirrel nibbling at something and then racing across the yard at the first hint of movement. The bugs and the earthworms are still a nuisance. The rain is almost becoming one. One of them days, I will start filling the debit and credit columns of my growing up account. I have a nagging feeling I will end with a negative balance...
For reasons that I cannot comprehend, the first rain always brings a smile across my face. A somewhat happy, somewhat sad moment. The first raindrops, the smell of the earth, the gentle breeze, carry me in their arms and transport me back in time to my childhood and across the seven seas to our home. To our backyard. To those happy times. To the smell of the fresh cut grass. To the happy place free of all the worries, far away from the rat race. Away from the daily grind, the stress of making the ends meet...and then some.
It is like I am looking into the crystal ball, the one that looks back into the present of my childhood. I can see the little kid coming back home after a long day at school. Shoulders sagging under the weight of the school bag. Coming home and mom waiting at the gate, worried that the weather is taking the turn for the worse and I am still at school. The yard is full of wet and yellow leaves that the tree doesn't want anymore. People on the street with just a hint of spring in their steps. Trying to get back home before the skies open up. People hunting for small umbrellas or their raincoats in their bag. People walking but always aware of the nearest shelter. All the street vendors scrambling to find a cover for their wares. Everybody in a rush but everybody a little cheerful. It is the first rain afterall.
These days, I hardly have time to look around and appreciate the nature. To stop and smell the proverbial roses. Just a hint of sadness at the things I have lost. The simple joys, the thrill of seeing the squirrel nibbling at something and then racing across the yard at the first hint of movement. The bugs and the earthworms are still a nuisance. The rain is almost becoming one. One of them days, I will start filling the debit and credit columns of my growing up account. I have a nagging feeling I will end with a negative balance...
