Loving the Rain

 I went for a walk this morning, it was 9 a.m.....super late for me usually.  Especially in May in the desert.  But there was a fantastic breeze, and it has been raining here lately.  I seriously loved it.  I closed my eyes as I walked and took  deep breaths of the moist desert air.  Very rarely can I say "moist" desert air...but today I could.  I love that smell.  There is a very distinct desert rain smell, and I remember it well from the summers I spent on my aunt and uncles ranch in southern Utah/Colorado.  Those are fond memories for me....being so free, playing with frogs, and being eaten to death by mosquitos (okay I didn't love the mosquitos).  But, nonetheless, every time I smell that smell I think of my aunt Heidi and uncle Robert.    I remember how much they pampered my sister and I, and I remember swimming in their pool in my under-roos.    I am always amazed at how the sense of smell can bring you back to something that happened so long ago (yes, I was 5 that summer).  But, I can still feel it all, the chili breakfasts, the hugs my aunt would give me, the radish plates, the constant itchy back, the posters of snakes in my cousins bedroom, and baby kittens.  Now, life has changed, family has changed, but I still have the desert smell and it brings it all back to me like I am still a little rug rat running around a ranch.