#RainPls

There was never an hour of bright, yellow sunshine in Cotabato City this weekend. Hence, despite my lack of interest in sleeping, there seemed to be no other best option to spend the days but to curl up under my ever-dependable comforter and drift off to slumberland.

Rain.

When I was younger and a bit more careless than what I am now, I used to love the rain. My grandma would often scold me because no matter how she’d steer me away from them, I would always find a way to pass by a puddle and sneakily dip my perpetually Kiwi-shined school shoes in it. She’d say that it was dirty and disgusting but to my young mind, there’s nothing disgusting about stomping your feet in a quasi-waterhole most commonly located on those shallow dents where the sidewalk and the sewer meet.

Ew.

So, basically, aside from deliberately dirtying my shoe and unknowingly promoting the possibility of having tinea pedis (which, thank God---and thank shoe---I didn’t acquire), I have plenty of other things to love rain for. I loved hearing the pattering sound of the rain; loved catching the drops dripping from the eaves; loved feeling the cold seep into my bones. Rain was the perfect excuse to pester my mom for champorado or arrozcaldo (or the nutrient-deficient Maggi Rich Mami Noodles with egg!). Plus, rain made the dreaded siesta a rather forgivable waste of childhood playing time.

I used to like rain so much I don’t mind bringing my grandmother’s notoriously plain-looking classic umbrella to school even though every child and their yayas don Hello Kitty foldable ones in what seemed to be a silent competition of trends in amateur rain-weather fashion. I get really hyper---and at the same time, relaxed (lol, ikr?)---when I see nimbus clouds gathering on the horizon. I even came to the point of developing a pseudo-grudge to the person who wrote the stupid rhyme “Rain, Rain Go Away” for his/her hostile attitude towards the beauty of deluge. I mean, c’mon, why would you make a song about shooing the God-gifted creation that is rain?

My love for rain spanned years until I met Jane. Jane, my ever-pessimist break-all-your-happy-thoughts friend.

Jane hates (or hated) the rain. I’m assuming she still hates it up to now.

She automatically shows signs of nephophobia whenever the clouds give the slightest hint of malpigmentation. The rain sucks; it makes laundry dry longer, makes your shoes dirty, makes you catch cold, makes you gloomy, stops you from going anywhere, requires you to carry a stupid umbrella, causes leaks on the roof, causes flash floods, kills people---basically, destroys your day. All these anti-rain sentiments she has fed me and the invulnerable (or so I thought) magic between rain and me broke.

And that’s how my love story with precipitation ended.

I can’t fault her, though. She makes complete sense! Besides, I’ve always been a fan of sunshine so I started to realize how friggin underrated sunbeams are in this world. There are, like, thousands of quotes for rainy seasons and the nostalgic shit they bring but you could only count how many people get inspired to wax poetic just by seeing the sun shine. Hmf.

So yeah. From then on, I’ve been civil towards rain. I don’t dislike it like how Jane does but I’ve sorta developed an unfriendly feeling towards it. Some people go “omg, yay rain!” and I’m, like, “Ugh. What the hell?!”.

However, I still believe that rain could be perfectly likable (and worthy of words of thanks) when it happens under the five following situations:

1.    When you need to sleep

2.    Inside a car traveling on a long journey

3.    On your couch during lazy weekend afternoons

4.    Inside a coffee shop with a friend

5.    After a really hot day (and you’re inside the confines of your house or office or any place where raindrops won’t pester you)

Outside those five, spare me the rain. Please.

Some people find the rain romantic and some probably listed dancing/kissing/frolicking in the rain with a love one on their bucket lists.

Awww. How cute.

Not.

I still feel like playing in the rain sometimes; but whenever I think about having to wipe the wet mess my dripping clothes would leave on the floor and the subsequent months-long colds it would cause on my immensely pathetic respiratory system… ugh, nope nope nope thank you very much.

I think the rain is okay.
Just as long as I'm not caught in it, that is.