I Wish It Would Rain

Scene from my late aft beach run

After a gorgeous day here in SoCal yesterday -- sunny and 65 degrees -- the weather report this morning is forecasting rain, rain, and more rain.

The local TV station picked out a very appropriate song to mark this day, and though I don't share the sentiment (I'd much prefer the sunshine remain), it is a beauty and it's helping me remember that like everything else in this life, rain has a purpose, even if it doesn't arrive at quite the moment one would like it to arrive if one could control it:

Hmmm
Sunshine, blue skies, please go away.
My girl has found another and gone away.
With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom.
So day after day, I stayed locked up in my room.
I know to you it might sound strange.
But I wish it would rain. (How I wish that it would rain)
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

'Cause so badly I wanna go outside. (Such a lovely day)
But everyone knows that a man ain't suppose to cry, listen.
I gotta cry 'cause cryin' eases the pain, oh yeah.
People this hurt I feel inside, words can never explain.
I just wish it would rain. (Oh, how I wish that it would rain)

Oh, let it rain.
Rain, rain, rain (Oh, how I wish that it would rain)
Ooo, baby. Let it rain.
(Let it rain) Oh yeah, let it rain.

Day in, day out, my tear stained face
Pressed against the window pane.
My eyes search the skies, desperately for rain.
'Cause raindrops will hide my teardrops.
And no one will ever know.
That I'm cryin'... cryin' when I go outside.
To the world outside my tears, I refuse to explain.
Oh, I wish it would rain. (Oh, how I wish that it would rain)
Ooo, baby.

I remember when I felt like this. The first of the three years I went to a yoga retreat on Maui. It was during the first year after I left my husband, and the trip was the first time I'd gotten any real space to myself since I'd made that momentous move. And though a part of me was crushed that I'd paid all that money for a tropical vacation only to get rained on every single day of it, mostly I felt relief:

Let it rain, let it rain.
I need rain to disguise the tears in my eyes.
Oh, let it rain.
Oh, yeah, yeah listen.
I'm a man and I got my pride.
Give me rain or I'm gonna stay inside.
Let it rain.

I'm grateful I'm not feeling that way today, and even more than that, I'm grateful for the acceptance that allows me to appreciate a 60 degree rain rather than craving 80 degree sunshine since the former allows me to enjoy what is and the latter would only focus my energy on what is missing. What joy is there in that?