"It Sucks. But at Least It's Raining."

I used to have this crippling, intense fear of severe weather. It was mostly tornados I was afraid of, and the fear was inexplicable. Nothing terrible had ever happened to me during any kind of storm, and yet even the slightest dark cloud would make my mouth go dry and my palms begin to sweat. Rain scared me. Lightning was terrifying. Thunder was awful. I had to go to a child psychologist for this shit. It was bad.

I think at some point, without really noticing it, I outgrew it. I stopped hiding in my safe closet when there were tornado warnings in neighboring counties. I stopped trying to fall asleep whenever the sky clouded over. It doesn't matter anymore. It really doesn't.

I like the rain. The rain is my friend. Sometimes I get upset with the rain when my pants get wet, or my hair gets messed up, or I step into a huge puddle in a parking lot. We have our rough patches, just like any other relationship, but me and rain, we're mostly good. Right now it's thundering too. For all those years I feared it, I find it strangely comforting now. I love trying to sleep through the thunder. I usually don't even mind when it wakes me up in the middle of the night.

There's something wonderful about a thunderstorm. Maybe it's the way the rain seems to wash everything away and give the opportunity for a new start. Maybe it's the way the rain almost always seems to cool off the world. Maybe it's the way the thunder reminds me that there's always something bigger than us. Maybe it's the way the lightning lights up the sky piece by piece. I love the way it gives each corner individual attention. Maybe it's the way thunderstorms seem so violent and scary, but beautiful at the same time. Maybe I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe it's the mystery of not being able to pinpoint what I like about it.