Aaaaaahhhhh, the wonderful soft pitter-patter of rain. It's truly divine.

Since I've been in SoCal I've come to realize how much I miss thunder storms. And how much rain I used to live in. Now if we happen to get any thunder, I think it is so cool; however, it sends my kids into a panic. They are not used to the sound that I used to hear almost on a daily basis. I remember always carrying an umbrella with me as a student because chances were a rain storm would brew just as I walking home from the bus or walking across the college campus. My kids basically consider an umbrella a toy. They use it when it's 85* out to play in the hose.

So tonight I'm sitting here thinking about things from my childhood that we did to pass time (on weekends especially) when it would rain for days on end. You know - before the days when there were 478 channels to choose from. Heck, the malls weren't even open on Sunday. I have fond memories of playing jacks; cards; and yahtzee. My Mom was the best jacks player. My brother liked to cheat at cards (it cracks me up now) and I couldn't EVER get a yahtzee. There were no hand-held games to keep us busy during power outages. We had each other. My brother liked to read. My Mom taught me how to embroidery.

And I'll never forget taking off on our bicycles with the neighborhood kids to ride the 'trails on Florida St.' and come home covered in rain water and mud.