This Weather We're Havin', Eh?

Petrichor: The smell of the earth after it rains.

Cool, fresh, earthy night air caresses my body and the resulting gust leaves goosebumps.

The clouds dance across the moon in waves, as though an ocean of grey and silver gleams and churns above me.

The rain is cold, clean, and sharp; soft and firm, all at the same time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember being seven or eight...

The night of the first snow, had to be just after October. Possibly, it was exactly a week from Halloween, on my birthday.  We'd been watching "Flower Drum Song," and it began to fall.

The framed glass doors leading out to the back porch glistened and glowed with silent, fluffy flakes.

I remember wearing only an over-sized t-shirt and having my mom slip her deliciously puffy and soft black coat around me; it was knee length on her, but I swam in its slippery, silky embrace.

Stepping out from the dark shadows of our house, I took a deep breath, crossing from glossy hardwood onto grey cedar. The wood of our back deck was densely smooth, but rough around the edges.

 Oklahoma weather had stained it with sun, rain and thunderstorms.

 I looked directly up into the pitch black night sky.

I couldn't see stars, but the flakes were coming fast and straight at my face as I kept it tilted all the way back.

I began to spin.

Arms out!

We still had the purple and green porch-lights up, and the effect on the falling snow was one of dizzyingly blending pastel colors.

Music was playing in my head. "Love Look Away," -- an amazing piece from the aforesaid Rogers and Hammerstein musical we'd been watching.

My feet were cold, but it didn't matter. Snowflakes melted on my cheeks, and I remember feeling transported with the smell of the the brisk air, and the gentle flurries around me.

The warmth of my body in the coat was in such contrast to my exposed skin.  I remember my heartbeat thudding as the orchestra played in my head, while I was mesmerized; staring up into infinity.

 I kept spinning with my head back, under the fast, falling snow.

I kept dancing to the music, with my heart keeping time until I thought I might fall over from the sheer joy of being alive in that moment.

I am sometimes homesick for that feeling...