Celebrate the rain!

Yesterday marks the 11-year-anniversary of my arrival in Oklahoma City. Over the years, many people have asked me why I left beautiful, lush, green, supposedly progressive western Oregon for Oklahoma. Though the real answer is considerably more complicated, I have often said "To get out of the rain."

As I write this, the temperature is about 38 degrees, and it is raining. It almost reminds me of a winter or early spring day in Oregon, except the rain is merely a gentle drizzle. In Eugene, it did not drizzle, nor did we have rain like the extreme Oklahoma gully-washers that sometimes come in spring. In western Oregon, the rain was hard, steady, cold, relentless and penetrating. And it lasted about 9 months of the year.

Really, it was a relief to get away from it. That was then.

Now, Oregon reportedly "less water and more wildfires." It's called climate change, and we are also experiencing its disastrous effects here in Oklahoma.

So, in the words of singer-songwriter Alice DiMicele, today I am ready to celebrate the rain.