Day After the Rain

El Hombre pulled back the blinds this morning and announced, "The day after the rain." I was watching VH1 Top 10 countdown and thought he was referring to the title of a new song and then thought how the day after the rain is an apt way to describe my emotional memory.

I hate rain - the gloominess, the muck, the wetness, the inconvenience. But I love the day after it rains - the smell of crispness in the air, the way everything is wiped clean, a new day. The sun comes out and all residue of the unpleasant previous night is wiped away.

My memory, especially my emotional memory, is a lot like the dark night of rain followed by a sunny day that leaves no trace of the previous gloom. There's a saying that you should never go to bed angry, but I totally, completely disagree. Sometimes, most times, it's hard to resolve a disagreement or misunderstanding in the heat of the moment. Emotions are volatile, words have been thrown around, feelings are raw. In the middle of a fight or an argument, I prefer not to try to resolve it right then. I prefer to go to bed in the middle of the fight. I am inflicted with a form of amnesia where when I wake up in the morning, any bad feelings from the night before are wiped away. Not only can't I remember what I was arguing about, but whatever it was seems silly and ridiculous. All I can remember is that I love the person next to me and am so thankful he's in my life. The rain from the previous night is forgotten, all that remains is the sunshine of the morning, making everything alive and new.