First day of Autumn

In California, it stops raining sometime in the Spring and it doesn't usually rain for all the long, hot summer. At some point, during day after day of upper 90's and triple digits, the sky here in the central valley gets a lovely hue of dusty tan. The concept of a rain location for an event is almost unheard of here.

We here in the valley look longingly at our friends facebook posts from the east about turning leaves and cooling temps and sweaters and our hearts turn a bit down. In September, it feels like the heat will never let up. When a heat wave comes in October, you can start to despair. Good friends of ours live in the desert in the south and I honestly don't know how they do it.

Yesterday, in the valley, the day before the first day of Autumn, we got an early treat. We got a September rain. It usually doesn't come until some time in October. I was in a meeting at my church and when we heard the foreign sound on the roof. It was such a surprise that we jumped up and went outside to see and feel it for ourselves. It shocked me how much my heart was lightened by the downpour. We were actually working through some really difficult stuff in our meeting. The first rain makes everything feel so clean and new.

I harvested some posts from facebook from my friends. This is what the first rain does for us in the valley...

"What is this wet stuff falling from the sky?

It's raining!!! Yeah!!! I love the smell of rain, and I love that it's not hot.

Hoodie weather \m/

Baking pumpkin bread, washing the car, doing a little rain dance

I LOVE the thunder.....this is AWESOME!!!! It can do this all night and I will be Happy, Happy, Happy!!!!

RAIN!!!!!

A lovely grey day. I needed this.

LET IT RAIN !!!!! LOVE IT !!!

Yay! Some rain finally! Started out with a bang and what a downpour!

Just a bit of Chicago weather here in Modesto, love it!

Loving this raining weather

I love the sound of rain just not the thunder — feeling great."

Dry seasons come. But a season is a season. It's bound to change if you wait and stay faithful to what you know. Sometimes it doesn't come when you think you need it but, eventually, rain falls.

And, of course, by the time February rolls around, we're ready for it to be over. The sun shines, the almond blossoms come out and it's time for our facebook posts to make our friends in the east jealous.