I love rain. I was sitting in my bed with my blinds open, writing in a notebook by the light of the nearby street lamp (which has been conventiently placed just outside my bedroom window) and listening to the rain tap against the roof, the walls, and the window itself. It was just beautiful. I eventually just put down the notebook and turned to stare at and out the window. The rain was getting heavier, and all the rain on the window was collecting into one big stream, which just flowed down the glass.

Rain is swell. If you really sit down and think about it, it's realyl neat. It's a nice sunny day, but it's getting kind of overcast. You look up and see how thick the clouds are. They're huge, they're gray. You can smell the rain about to come. Then, suddenly, the giant sacks of water just rip open and spill everything onto Earth, but it doesn't just pour forth on one giant splash. My goodness, no. That would kill us and destroy our houses and emus. No, it comes down in nice little drops, which build up and up and flood and kill us and destroy our houses and emus. When there isn't a flood, however, that's when it gets really swell. They patter against the window, making the paper you're writing on (see above) look vaguely splotchy. They just add so much life to everything. I'd sing and dance in the rain if it were raining right now and if I had shoes on. I think rain is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind. When things get too hot, too dry, here comes rain, which lets down, showering us with its beautiful magic, making things grow and everything come alive. There's nothing else remotely like it.

I think it's one of the perfect symbols of Christ and His grace for us. Think of it this way: you've got a yard. Not the best yard, mostly just dirt and a few rocks and little sprickets of grass here and there. The dirt is very good soil, but it's not being used. Then rain comes. Some people go inside and try to escape it, thinking it's bad, but some people go outside and stand in it, dancing in it, embracing it. Then in the yard, something happens: everything. Grass starts growing. Clover pops up and covers the whole ground like a rich green carpet. Sticking out of the clover in different places are bright yellow daffodils, looking like butter, they're so yellow. The yard which had so much potential, which could have been, now is. I think it's wonderfully symbolic.

-eric "I really like rain" sleator
Mon 21 Feb A.D. 2000