You make me happy

...when skies are gray. It's a gray day here in Kyoto. There's a slight sprinkle in the air as well - the kind of rain that tickles your nose, just damps (but frizzes) your hair, and that you can only see out the window if you squint and stare really hard. The kind that is steady enough for you to not ride your bike to work (again, see the what it does to my hair part of the last sentence), but also makes you feel guilty for taking a cab.

I have mixed feelings about rain. Spending four long winters in Oregon really made me realize the power of the sun and the true existence of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Gray skies can really stifle the spring in your step when it's all you see for five months.

Usually when the weather forecast shows no signs of sunshine, I complain and think about how it's going to affect my day: I have to be careful which shoes I wear so my socks (and toes) don't get soaked, I can't wear any long pants as they will surely drag in the gathering puddles and I know at the end of the day, I'll have to crowd on the humid, stuffy bus with everyone else whose hair frizzes up while biking through the rain.

On the other hand, growing up in Missouri makes me long for summer storms - the kind that you can smell long before you even feel a drop. I remember those childhood summer days spent in the backyard, lost in fanciful worlds broken only by sudden downpours.

Magical moments happen in the rain.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat waiters. I think the same can be said for how they treat a rainy day. 

We can put silver linings on those gray clouds.

Rainy days are a wonderful excuse for romance.

Without the rain, how could one of the most romantic, beautiful moments on screen have happened? 

Or been so fashionably re-created? You know it couldn't be the same on a sunny day.

[all pictures found here]

Without the grays we could never have the greens or pinks or blues of other days. I must remember to be thankful.

But if you're in Okinawa on a much-deserved vacation and it rains all week, well then, I think it's OK to be pissed off.