Summer Isn’t Fun for Everyone: A Love Note to the Rain

This story will help you understand the rain lover in your life

I always envied my “beach bum” friends. You know the type: Sunkissed, happy, sun-lightened hair. “Summer, when the livin's easy” captions on their glowing selfies.

I am envious of their love of summer.

I am the opposite of this summer poster child. I am pale (and loving it), brunette, and allergic to everything.

After I’m outdoors, my entire body itches. I am so allergic to grass and mosquito bites that I have to take a Benadryl because the itching is unbearable.

I enjoy spending time with my husband, having a drink, or playing with my daughter outside but I am much more comfortable in the fall and winter seasons when I can revel in my paleness and enjoy the comforts of home.

I love rainy days, not sunny days.

My great grandmother was a “water witch”. A water dowser or water witch is someone who can carry a pendulum or a stick and sense water through the ground. My Grandmother was so good at this that the government utilized her to find sources of water underground.

I believe I inherited her affinity for water and rain.

I am happier and more productive on a rainy day. My family and friends tell me I’m crazy because rain makes them want to stay in bed all day.

Rain makes me feel introspective, happy, and calm. Sunshine just makes me feel like I need to be outside, doing stuff.

The sun is not relaxing for me. It is a callback to early mornings for school and work. When the sun appears: It’s time to work!

In stark contrast, I love everything about rain and I love how it engages all of our senses. The rain has its own distinct look, smell, feel, taste, and sound.

The rain has its own ethreal ambiance.

“Rain makes me feel less alone. All rain is, is a cloud- falling apart, and pouring its shattered pieces down on top of you. It makes me feel good to know I’m not the only thing that falls apart . It makes me feel better to know other things in nature can shatter.”

-Lone Alaskan Gypsy

My idea of a perfect day: A beautiful rainy day, no sun to be seen.

I love to dance in the rain. This is an activity I hope to share with my daughters this summer and fall.

This will be my way to make memories out in nature because it’s the only time I can be outside and not be miserable!

Everyone plays with their child in the sun, but how many will dance in the rain with them?

“Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.”

— Jodie Foster

I’ve had friends cancel plans because of rain, I’ve seen mothers rush their children inside because it is sprinkling.

The best parts of my childhood involved me jumping in massive puddles in my favorite red gum-rubber boots.

It made me feel alive.

Sometimes people forget that not everyone is a sun worshipper. If you have someone in your life that doesn’t like the sun, accept it.

Do not call them a vampire, do not laugh at them.

Do not make them hang out in the sun and do not “sun-shame” them.

When there is a bitchin’ rainstorm ask that friend if they want to join you for a dance in the rain.

There’s more than one type of weather to make memories in.

“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet”- Bob Marley

Amy Cottreau is a freelance writer who hails from a small city in Atlantic Canada. She enjoys interacting with fellow writers, dreaming of ideas for her next article, and researching missing person cases.