Scent of Rain

Getting out of the car for an early morning McDonalds stop. Breathe. Breathe again.
My Dad refers to McDonalds as, "a fine Scottish restaurant!"
I have experienced rainstorms in Singapore and Malaysia. Around Seattle, three consecutive days without rain is very uncommon.

But the rain here smells different. It's a scent I'd forgotten, that I didn't know I'd missed. Rain everywhere else just seems to be falling water. This, this is HOME.

It helps a bit that my home state is significantly inland by comparison to where I live now, so during the summer months it's much warmer (and during the winter, a good deal colder). Engages more of my senses. 78-degree thunderstorm. Nice.

Coming in, I noticed the absence of mountains. Started thinking about the way I love MN, vs. the way I loved the Bighorns and Olympic Peninsula. I love seeing those mountains, there's so much promise of challenge, interesting places to explore, big quiet to get lost in. MN, feels like I know everything already, there isn't a challenge there...but it's because I know everything well that it's home.

I had a friend who went to both Baghdad and Afghanistan a few years ago. He told me that the reason he could take on the chaos there was because he knew I was a "safe place" waiting for him back home. He could carry the thought of that safe place with him, keep him a little sane on the field, and he could fight to protect that safe place, because the chaos there must not reach here. And maybe that's how I feel about MN. I can go all over the world and take on these big challenging things, while MN doesn't exactly challenge me. Actually, MN's the opposite; here's where I can sit back and breathe. Get my air back, my mind back, so I can go charging up another mountain somewhere else.