The Music of the Rain

When I was a little kid, I had a decent walk to school.  Kind of like the postman, it didn't matter too much if it was snowing, windy, or raining -- I'd be out in it.  My mom didn't have a car and my father left for work way before we needed to.

A lousy day might have RAIN to start with and maybe it had already been raining during the night.  Everything was soaked, and there was this SMELL.  You know it, I'm sure, and it is unmistakable.  The smell of worms!!

Yucky, juicy worms that were slithering about on the sidewalk trying to get back to the soil again.  The ones with that little thick bandaid at one point on their length.  Nightcrawlers!!  The damp, stinky air surrounded me as I made my way down the sidewalk.

And of course, who wants to step on one, so that meant looking straight down and stepping here, not there, avoiding this space and that.  ALL the way to school.  With an umbrella, no book bag. 

Researchers have found that one of the most identified smells is Crayola Crayons.  The 8-pack, 16-pack, 48-pack, or the absolutely fabulous 64-pack with the built-in sharpener leave an impact on kids.  Reseachers should check into people who walked to school for seven years -- they would find that the smell of worms ranks right up there with Crayolas. 

To this day, the smell of worms awakens memories.  All kinds of memories that take me back to elementary school and the four trips a day to and from school.

So what pithy thing do I want to say here?  I suppose it's that we are jam-packed with memories and we tend to remember either the very good or the very bad most distinctly.  According to researchers, whenever we get a bunch of adrenalin flowing and probably some other mysterious brain chemicals, those memories are especially vivid.  They are imbedded in the brain and are nearly impossible to erase. 

We are made to remember.  God wants us to remember because locked within our memories are the lessons that we have had to so painfully learn. 

And so one morning we awaken to the rain and the soaked earth.  And yes, the unmistakable smell of worms!!  And once again we are a kid going to school walking this way and not that.  Flooded with memories of home, of school, of friends, of our mother.

It's raining!  Maybe I should step outside for a moment and see if I can smell the earthworms.