It's raining...

MEN! Okay, it isn't raining men, it's just plain raining, but it's thundering too, which makes me more excited than I'd be if full-size beings with XY chromosomes were falling from the sky. 'Cause that would be just plain disturbing.

Earlier today I was debating a chipper post about how much I love autumn weather. It's around this time of year, every year, that the same thoughts start forming in my head about how lucky I am to be alive in a time and a place where the weather has such a direct positive effect on my mood. The thunder and rain don't exactly embody fall weather for me, so that isn't what I planned to wax poetically about, but I'm pleased as punch that they're here anyway.

Oooooh, big thunder! Thunder that recalls the "Rainforest" cassette tape from the Nature Company and used to play in our kitchen in Fullerton. Man, I loved that tape. It doesn't seem right to be at work at a time like this. Thunder means you should be at home, preferably in the dark. I remember a handful of nights in Berkeley when I'd awaken in the dead of night to deep, cracking, resonating thunder that seemed to roll directly above my head. My eyes would open with a start and I'd smile to myself in the dark. That was the best.

Berkeley's the site of some happy weather memories, to be sure. Running to the Kragen's downtown to buy tire chains in extreme bluster, Sar and I laughing like maniacs when the umbrella flipped itself inside out. Walking to the library as the sun dipped down, wind swirling leaves at my feet and hair in my face. Biking to work in the summer, warm golden light spilling over everything and each small breeze a relief.

Hmm...seems like most of those memories are weather plus locomotion. :) It makes sense. I never liked to drive in Berkeley; everyone knows my hatred of parking.