Spring rain

The smell of spring rain...has to be one of my top 3 smells of all time. Nothing compares to that refreshing, rejuvenating, luscious smell...and I got two nostrils full today. For those not in Cowtown, we had a fabulous spring shower yesterday afternoon. It lasted less than an hour, started slowly and then blossomed into a hard shower blowing in three directions. Before I knew it, it was over and the sun was shining again.

I noticed it was getting darker and I was overjoyed to see the rain drops wetting our deck...you see, we haven't had a lot of rain this winter and the times we have gotten rain it was more than needed and caused problems. Anyway, I immediately opened the back door and bathed my senses in this glorious shower. The smell - warm, cleansing, refreshing. The sight - the randomness of the drops, watching the ground, fence and deck change colors. The sound - nothing is more soothing than rain, one reason I love the skylight in our bathroom on a rainy night. The touch - well, that begins the fun part...

Some might say I am insane, but I just had to let Jonathan experience the rain. Mind you, he has seen rain before and has even ducked and covered on his way to the car, but he hasn't truly experienced it. I totally put any "motherly" thoughts of the cold, of potential illness, etc. out of my mind because more important than any of that was that I share this, one of my favorite things, with my son. So, I woke him up from a nap and proceeded to take him outside. We stood under the covered porch at first so he could finish waking up and simply take in the sights and sounds. You could tell he was quite intrigued and couldn't quite figure it out. Then I stood him at the edge of the covered porch so his feet could feel the wet concrete. Surprisingly, he didn't mind. Then I took the plunge and we walked out onto the deck...it wasn't raining too hard, but it was definitely steady. He wasn't too excited at first - the rain was cold and it was different than having bath water poured over his head. But it didn't take long for the smile to form as he looked around taking it all in. We held out our hands to catch the rain...we blinked the water from our eyelashes...we twirled...we laughed...we got pretty wet. I decided we were wet enough so we went back under the covered porch and watched the rain some more...as we walked back inside he kept his eyes peeled out the door and window. He was so fascinated. He laughed at himself in the mirror when he saw the water dripping off his head...I loved every minute of it! We dried off, changed clothes, and ate a snack...what a great afternoon!

I loved that he seemed to love something I love so much. For all the big moments - the first smile, the first laugh, his dedication, and so on - it is the little moments, the 15-20 minutes this afternoon, of sharing a part of me with him that burn themselves deep into my heart and mind. I look forward to the day when we can go play in the puddles together (the water collects really well in the street in front of our house!) and enjoy all aspects of God's creation. I love having a boy and I am excited I get to relive childhood through his eyes.