Can you smell it?

It’s the fragrant aroma of fresh rain falling. I began as I drove home from Mosaic tonight. I got a whiff of it and immediately opened my sunroof to the "tilt" position so I could take in the whole bouquet of it.

It’s a fragrance that immediately takes me back to my childhood. For some reason, even though I lived in many places as a child where it rained often — like Tacoma, Washington — the smell of fresh rain always seems to take me back first to Glorieta, New Mexico. I have wonderful memories of many summers spent at there, hiking in the mountains where the conference center is nestled, learning to make many fun things in day-camp, playing in the campground, and watching the daily thunderstorm make it’s way through the mountains on its way to Santa Fe.

But more than just the memories comes the feelings, of newness, of freshness…. hope. Every time I smell the rain I feel…. cleaner. Even if I’m dirty as I can get.

It was so refreshing to smell the rain tonight. I’m so tired. I’ve been exhausted all weekend. Not sure what’s going on… I just feel like I did when I had Mono back in the 8th grade. I slept most of today, and I still feel like I could sleep for another 12 hours. So to inhale that wonderful aroma of fresh rain and fill my lungs with it was like… like getting a cold drink of water on a hot summer day. Invigorating and filled with hope.