As I’m sitting here writing this, it’s the day after Independence Day, and it’s raining. It’s not a hard rain, but it’s not a light rain either. I would call it a rain shower, but those typically don’t last very long, this has been going for over an hour, and the radar indicates that it’s going to continue for several more.
I’m sitting on my covered deck at my outdoor desk watching the rain fall, listening to the sound of distant thunder, and enjoying a glass of homemade hard watermelon cider. To me, it’s a beautiful day.
For most people, a rainy day in the summer is a bummer. But for me, there is an aspect of it that I enjoy on occasion. That’s because a warm, yet rainy, summer day takes me back in time.
When I was a kid, let’s say between the ages of 7 and 10, we lived on a farm, and in the summer I had to spend a lot of the day helping out with the never-ending chores that go along with that life. They were simple tasks since I was young, but watering the horses, putting out hay for the horses, helping in the garden, and working in the tobacco field could certainly cut into a fine summer day. But when it would rain my brother and I got to skip the chores. We would pile up on a couch we had on the carport, and read comic books all day. My brother had a hodge-podge collection, but I enjoyed reading random issues of The Incredible Hulk, The Unknown Soldier, and Justice League America.
Fast forward a few years to after we had moved from the farm, and my dad had his business next to our home. I worked for him every day in the summer except on rainy days. On those days, my brother and I would crash in the family living room and watch movies.
We had a cable descrambler, so we had access to Viewer’s Choice PPV movies, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel. I can’t remember the exact years, but judging from the movies I’m about to mention, it was between 1989 and 1991 when we did this the most.
We’d watch all the new releases on PPV. Movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and JFK. Mixed in with the PPV movies we would hit the other pay channels and I can remember watching The Addams Family, The Body Guard, Dick Tracy, Batman, Teen Witch, Backdraft, Days of Thunder, and countless others many times over. Those were great days as we just spent the day being lazy. It didn’t matter that we had seen the movies countless times already, we still relished the opportunity to chill out and just lay around.
So as I sit here writing this, I look back on those lazy rainy summer days with fondness. While nothing really beats a sunny summer day when you can go out and do whatever you want, remember to take advantage of the rainy days sometimes as well. You may look back on them as some of the better days of your summers.
