There is nothing like a rainy day in mid-summer
Yesterday was the best day of weather I’ve experienced since moving to the D.C. area. Hands-down. I say that unreservedly. No day has been better.
Granted, my standards may be a bit low now. My idea of a “nice day” in the summertime in D.C. is any day when it’s not completely disgusting outside — that is, any day when the temperature is below 90 and the humidity is low enough that you don’t feel like you could swim through the air (or your own sweat). There aren’t many days like that here between June and September.
But yesterday…
It was a Saturday, so I didn’t have to go anywhere unless I wanted to, which I didn’t. Temperatures peaked in the low-70s (fairly unheard of for D.C. in July) with low humidity (also fairly unheard of for D.C. in July).
Around noon, it started to rain hard. It didn’t stop until around midnight.
It was a steady, life-giving rain. Unlike your typical summer storm in the Midwest or along the East Coast — where rain comes in heavy bursts accompanied by lightning and thunder, only to clear out as quickly as it came — this rain just continued throughout the day with a level cadence.
There is something inherently calming and peaceful about continuous rain, especially at the height of summer. It cools the air. It smells fresh. It tempers the brightness of the July sun. It feels grounding — as if to restore a sense of connectedness with nature and creation even as the trials and tribulations of life make it very easy to feel utterly detached from both.
Simply put, it feels, in my view, like an expression of spiritual grace: old, stale, and dirty things being washed away to make room for what’s new.
I have a covered balcony at my place that looks out over a courtyard. I don’t use it much even during the summertime because it’s generally just too damn hot and humid to enjoy. But yesterday was different. Yesterday I sat down out there with a cool beer for a few minutes, just listening to the rain. It was wonderful. It was a moment I wish I could have captured — but the footage below fails.
For a moment, I forgot where I lived. I forgot what a stinking, self-destructive mess this country is. For a moment, if I had wanted to, I could have imagined that the rain would simply wash away the iniquity that rules this city.
Indeed, rain is a merciful reminder that there is still a force that sustains the Earth and all who dwell within it, no matter the depraved depths humanity reaches.
Sun and heat have their place in the created order. But I’m not a fan of places where those elements rule. They’re both too overwhelming and abrasive for my taste — the sun too bright, the heat too stifling. I prefer the opposite — cool, overcast, and damp. It makes me feel more alive…more at home.
