Rain, Rain, Go Away...

This winter Southern California has been getting, dare I say, “a lot” of rain.  I realize that this is completely relative and that our winter is still extremely mild compared to other parts of the United States and the world.  But normally where I live we have sunny winter days. We would get a few days of rain here and there with the showers coming and then going after just a little while.  A full day of rain is very rare and rain that lasts for more than one day at a time is even more rare. So because of this natural weather pattern, I am just not used to feeling “cooped up” during the winter.  And it’s affecting my mood.

We have had a few really rainy weeks down here.  Not showers but rain where it seemed like someone was pouring rain down out of the sky.  Lighting, thunder, the works. I think mother nature is helping us out because we have been in desperate need of rain for some time now, water here is a little scarce.  But we Southern Californians are used to t-shirt and flip-flops weather and even being able to go to the beach on a cool winter weekend if the sun is out. It sounds almost too fake to be true, but it’s true!

It doesn’t help that I am a little weather-forecast obsessed.  I ask Alexa and Google multiple times a day how the weather looks for the day and the rest of the week, just so I know what’s ahead.  If I see rain I am already getting grumpy. If it’s more than one day of rain I start to feel a little panic. I suppose if I didn’t have kids I might think rain was quaint and cozy because I could snuggle up on the couch with a movie or a good book.  Maybe… but I think it might be that I just like seeing the sun in the sky and feeling the rays on my face. I have never lived in any other place before but I have heard that there is seasonal depression and on a very minor scale I think I get it.

There is something very promising and optimistic about seeing the sun come out.  Even if the temperatures are low and it’s freezing outside it still looks beautiful outside and I want to go and take a walk.  I have been hearing people here and there say they love the rain and they’re so happy we are getting so much rain. But I quite honestly am not so in to it.  I am happy we are getting the water we need but I kind of wish it would stop so we can go outside and play.