Rainy Days

What a cold and wet morning today. On days like this I find it hard to get motivated to do anything, especially if I need to get stuff done outside! As I thought about this for a bit, I realized that rainy weather has not always discouraged me to get stuff done or even just put me in a foul mood. There was a time or more accurately a place, where rainy days were nice and put me in a better, motivational mood.

When I was living in Arizona, summers were always extremely hot and extremely dry. We could literally go for a few months without rain. This was especially the case in the first part of the summer. This long period of sunny days without a cloud in the sky might seem nice now, living here in Maryland, but this became agonizing while I lived there.

I always looked forward to the latter parts of summer, to a time that Tucsonians called monsoon season. Most might think this is ridiculous, because they think of a monsoon season as a time of constant never ending rain. I suppose you have to live in southern Arizona to understand. Around Tucson, this time is referred to the common afternoon thunderstorms that are built by the mountains surrounding the area, which bring massive amounts of rain down in a short period of time. This could happen almost every evening for several weeks. You see before the rain starts coming. Everything becomes so dry, that the scenery turns brown. The massive Saguaro cacti become thin, as they lose their stored water. But only after a few rainy afternoons, the scenery starts to regain color. The cacti begin to swell. The leaves of the palo verdeand and mesquite trees turn green again.

This reincarnation of life in southern Arizona, brings with it good feelings. Those late afternoon thundershowers are nice and give me motivation. I suppose the feelings, which are associated with rainy days, depend on where one lives.