Sitting at my writing desk, I can hear the rain pattering on top of the skylight. Brief gusts of wind can be heard blowing through the walkways between houses. Seen through a tall and wide rectangular office room window, the leaves of palm trees gently brush the exterior stucco walls. Listening attentively, it's a soft, natural and soothing, rippling and bristling sound. Inside the house, the aging metallic window frames chatter and creak as they are being rapidly pushed and tugged. The heater is on. It's a warm cozy feeling, listening to the heavy rain drops while feeling sheltered, safe, and dry inside the house.
Looking a bit further, I can see a city street. The background traffic noise is diminished. The sidewalks are empty. The daily chatter, footsteps, laughs and cries of passing pedestrians and eager shoppers are merely memorable echoes of another day. Hidden within the fog and clouds exists a faint shadow of the past, reminding one of yesterday's sunny, clear-blue, sky. The pace of the environment crawls at a slow speed. Birds that typically whistle and sing in a state of musical harmony, while dancing on the sunlit trees branches, are now silent and huddled in their nests. The bewildered crow caws as if though bitter and annoyed — perhaps complaining about the sudden change in weather to whomever will listen.
The rain is unusual. The people react with a bit of hesitation and wonder. The habit of a SoCal native is to go outside, run, walk, skateboard or bicycle. Or drive around with rolled down windows. Often the automobile passenger is a pet dog, sticking its head out the window, panting with a wide open mouth — cooling and massaging a thirsty tongue; its fur fluffing and combing in the coastal wind; behaving as if though it was the most thrilling moment of its life. It's become a thriving habit, and to many a need, to rely upon the cooling coastal air and the equilibrium of brilliant warm-hot sunlight. The clouds, the fog, and the rain create a feeling of confusion, eagerness and a bit of sadness. An imaginary and whimsical moment of fearful thought passes through the mind, “What if the beautiful sun doesn't return?” It's a dreadful thought for the local whose entire lifestyle and culture is dependent on the predictable nature of this paradisiacal climate.
With a great sense of irony, self contradiction, and much hypocrisy, we've been hoping for more rain as the drought worsens. The weather experts claim there will be little impact on the epic drought. Today's rain won't be sufficient to give the land more water, but nevertheless it's a welcome feeling of hope. There are environmental concerns of downpours causing mudslides due in part to the lack of vegetation that typically keeps the loose soil anchored.
As Californians we pull the flower petals and says to ourselves, “We love the rain, we hate the rain, we love the rain, we hate the rain ... we ... ”
