Rainy Memories...

It's raining... and it's coming down pretty heavily. I love that sound. Rain heavy on a tin roof. It reminds me of my parents house and a cuddly comforting feeling warms my heart as I think of those misty mountain days I grew up wishing for. Nothing is quite like this sound... nor the image I've built in my mind to accompany its delivery.
Those were the days I felt comfort in a way I could always count on. Warmth regardless of the temperature outside. So many good things coexist in my mind with those days.
When I was a child, a day like this may have occured during school hours. We all would have eaten our lunch in our classrooms rather than outside and the rooms would always appear more brightly lit than usual due to the intense darkness created by the commanding clouds. I loved eating lunch in the class room. I felt close to everyone in these times. A whole class sitting within four built up walls... and when our day would come to an end, Mum would be there waiting for me and my brother; ready to take us home.
Seeing my Mum's face was always a comfort in itself, not to mention how comforting her scent was. She'd always have the biggest grin on her face and give us a big kiss and cuddle. Usually on these days, she'd take us to the Kurrajong Bakery and buy us something warm like meat pies or spinach quiches. We'd take them home and eat them while she got ready to teach. Often she'd have already lit the old-school oven fire and as soon as we set foot inside the door, we would feel the toasty warm temperature contrast with the brutal chill of the outside air. I remember the these days... Mum would call them "Misty Mountain" days... and that's still how I remember them today. Best days of my life.
If we had a day like this on the weekend, usually some of our friends would come around and we'd make indoor cubby houses, constructed by upside down couches. We'd even put the tiny TV in there and watch cartoons. Mum would cut us up celery and feed it to us with our favourite french onion dip. If I close my eyes, I can still picture it as if it had happened yesterday. Sometimes though, when we were feeling really adventurous, we'd go walking in the rain. My friends and I would venture into the muddy lanes and tracks that were by then filled with water, gushing rapidly towards us with nowhere else to go. At times there would be so much rain and water that our driveway would flood completely and our lane would form puddles and streams making it virtually impossible to drive down. My friends and I would pick the wet leaves and flowers off the plants and trees... hoping to pick enough for our various arts and crafts pojects we had constantly in the works. When we'd come inside, sometimes mum would have made her vegie soup... hearty and hot... just the way it should be! We'd dip buttered bread cut into two triangles in it and giggle while we drew and made plans for our crafty inventions.
As we got older though, which was bound to happen... these days began to represent different things.
An old friend and I used to cuddle in this weather and not come out of my room for days at a time. I'm pretty sure I used to devour baked potato during this time in my life. Topped with plenty of salt and sour cream. I can't even remember the last time I had sour cream! He loved me anyway though... despite my weird fetish for sour cream! There were a lot of rainy days I remember him being with me... these days were priceless.
Then there was a boy... who I used to msg endlessly when it rained. Back and forth, back and forth into the early hours of the morning. We'd talk about the sound of the rain on the roof, and I think all we ever wanted to do was dance under its soothing droplets until we were soaked all the way through. I used to tell him to kiss the rain... lyrics from a song that I thought summed us up nicely. It went something like "kiss the rain whenever you need me, kiss the rain whenever I'm gone too long, if your lips feel hungry and thirsty, kiss the rain and wait for the dawn. Keep in mind, we're under the same sky and the night is as empty for me as for you, if you feel you can't wait til morning, kiss the rain"... and whenever it rains, it's hard for me not to think of him and kissing the rain in our memory.
Then I had a boyfriend who came to represent to me what this weather means. Even though he was a sunshine boy all the way and to be honest, I think I spent more time at the beach during the time him and I dated than I had my entire life. We were definitely beach kids together... rocking our beach/street branded clothing. Trekking to Manly Beach, the old train-and-ferry style way in an attempt to show off our dedication to the sun and our love for all things beach. It's funny though because the rainy days somehow ended us being what made us. There was no excuse to get out of bed when it rained. No point and everyone knew it. So no one questioned it. If we were up to it though, we'd venture out come night time for a dinner and movie combo C/O the good old Regent Twin Cinemas... ooooh those were the days. Raining on the tin roof is definitely a sound I remember from that time in my life.
I guess rain on a roof somehow can always easily be associated with love and bed and all things couple-related. Aswell as with hot chocolates; where melty marshmellows are bathing in a sea of milky goodness.
The rain makes me think of a time when there was a flood. We wanted it to flood. We loved the rain and the dance it formed across the sky. The pellets heavy on the front screen of the car, as we drove through feilds of heavy green mush and puddles of deep water. These few days in the flood were everything I loved about us. The simplicity and perfection of a look and a touch. The perfection of the rain and all it represented. A lifetime of nights and days spent in bed beneath warm sheets, skin on skin and bodies held close. When I hear a rain like tonight it reminds me of those times.... as perfect and as clear as they were and should have been, always held close and dear in my heart. Always the rainy story of us.
I've lived overseas in the rain, I've lived here at home in the rain and where ever I go, alone or not, these moments in time are by far my favourite. I hold on to the images and memories of all the times the rain and I have shared, and I smile. When I think back over the buckets of rain I could have captured during the time I have lived... the misty mountain backdrop is always there, regardless of the memory... and my love for the rain and the times spent in its company is endless.....