LOVING THE RAIN

From my window, I can watch the rain coming down in buckets.  Its been raining in Hilo the last couple of days, which is what people expect out of Hilo.  The rain is the main reason why things are so green, real estate is so cheap and most tourists are just passing through on their way to see the volcano.

When I told people I was moving to Hilo, most of them asked me why I wanted to move to someplace that rained so much.  They either didn't know or forgot that I lived most of my life in Portland, Oregon where rain and cold go together like peanut butter and jelly.  

The typical Portland winter could bring 10-12 weeks of constant rain and overcast, which means you could go months without seeing the sun.  There's actually a condition call "Seasonal Affective Disorder" where lack of sun brings deep depression as well as massive deficiency in vitamin D.   With the effects of global warming, now it rains right on through the summer as well.  With that perspective, Hilo looks like Palm Springs to me.

I've come to realize now that those years in Portland were really getting me ready to live in Hilo.  Like so many things in life, we are constantly being prepared for what is ahead.  Writing for the newspaper in high school prepared me to enjoy the writing I do today.  Sitting next to my grandmother while she tended to the plants gave me an appreciation for gardening.  Losing my wife at a relatively early age prepared me to treasure the relationships that are so precious to me now.

So many of us complain about the "rain" in our lives, but we have no idea what the Universe is preparing us for.   Our struggles turn into important lessons, our disappointments turn into keys for our future success and our failures turn into the motivation to achieve our greatest triumphs.

In the time it took me to write these few paragraphs, the sky opened up and I can see the sun shining brilliantly.  But I needed those two days of rain to really love this very moment.