Life’s Greatest Moments: Rain Falling

I have been offline with this column over the past month or so — exploring new directions in my life and simply experiencing life. There has been a lot of reading, a lot of research and even more meditation on my own life and the meaning within it. Meaning in life, I think, cannot necessarily be created. We only have so much to work with and looking forward is much more difficult than looking at was has been (or looking backward). Meaning in life can mostly just be experienced.

When we look at a life lived, there are moments that make us smile, moments that bring a tear to the eye and those moments where everything in life simply seems so right. These, I believe, are life’s greatest moments. As I have written before, we won’t remember those days at the office, days spent toiling away at menial tasks or the hours spent on some social media platform. What we will remember most are true life experiences or “Life’s Greatest Moments.”

I define Life’s Greatest Moments as those events in our lives when we become acutely aware that we are alive. It is the family laughing together at a holiday meal when time seems to stop and you briefly wish, in a fleeting thought, this moment could last forever. Sometimes it’s being in love and spending an hour with that special person. Sometimes it’s simply smiling over the dinner table at your partner. It’s holding your child, petting your dog or swelling with pride at a graduation. Life’s Greatest Moments are the peaks. Don’t blink. They go as quickly as they come.

I have number of these moments. In fact, I have a list — a list I once titled “Things I’ll Miss When I’m Gone.” But, that is a bit of a morbid title. I really see these elements as great moments in life. Moments when I truly feel as though I am experiencing something wonderful and am part of a greater whole.

One of these moments is the rain. Since I was a small child, I always loved a rainy day. I love the smell, the sound and comfort I find in the rain. And my wife knows there is nothing so much I love as sitting in a cafe on a cold rainy day enjoying a good cup of coffee or tea while reading a book. It is one of my favorite things.

There is something wondrous about the rain — something that holds you in the here and now of the universe. Just listen to each drop falling. But don’t linger on a single drop. It’s gone as soon as it arrived. Listen to each one — each an individual existence of it’s own.

I was a young man once, stationed in Tokyo as part of my tour in the United States Marine Corps. It was a different life so far away now I almost remember it as some other man in some other world. But it was me. There was a monsoon season there where it would rain for 30 or 40 days straight it seemed. I would walk in the rain, run in the rain and often just find an overhead to stand under and enjoy it.

And then I was a young man stationed at Camp Lejeune. I belonged to an infantry unit and we would often train in the rain. Our mantra was: “If it rainin’, we ain’t trainin’.” You would get soaked and know you were going to be wet for days on end. Your feet would develop blisters from wet boots and socks. You would shake and shiver in the night attempting to get a few hours of sleep in wet, cold gear. I grew to loathe the rain on those field operations, but never grew to hate it when I could get out of it and simply enjoy it from the comfort of a dry spot.

One of my dreams in life has been to have a place with a covered back porch. I would sit on this porch and write on rainy days — occasionally looking out on the rain from the comfort of a dry spot while it pours down in sheets. It is here where I feel as though I am part of life. And for a fleeting moment, I hope this will last forever. But I know it won’t and that is okay. That is part of what makes it so special — that it won’t last forever.

During these moments — Life’s Greatest Moments — it is just me, alone with an experience. These are the moments I will remember. The smell and sound of rain drops falling. My senses overwhelmed and filled with life. Simply knowing I am experiencing these moments and having an awareness of my being is often enough. But, not always.

I try to hold on to the moment and, like holding a snowflake in the palm of your hand, it melts away. I a blink and it’s gone. And yet it is still, somehow, here with me.