Point of view

It's funny how the way you perceive things can totally change based on your frame of reference. Tonight, it has been raining pretty hard. We had a band of showers move over us and it's just been reforming all night long. When I lived in the Lower 48, rain used to make me think of spring. But here, rain makes me think of fall. Anchorage weather is usually sunny and dry in the spring, with a few showers. Then, usually about the August timeframe, it gets rainy. By the end of August we are experiencing some pretty good shower type events. And believe it or not, by the end of August, we are heading into fall.

Standing outside in the entry way tonight, watching the rain fall, I felt like summer was over. I could see my breath forming clouds from the glow of the parking lot lights, and I shivered a little in the cool breeze, thinking of darkness and winter and feeling the quiet sadness that fall always brings for me. I wished I had been at home instead, snuggling under the covers with my kitty and listening to the rain tapping on the roof. But I reminded myself that this isn't the fall, this is spring. The sun will rise in an hour or so, and this rain will green things up nicely. And maybe if we're lucky, the clouds will clear enough for a sunrise rainbow and a beautiful start to the morning.