As a young boy in the Philippines, one of the things that my friends and I did for fun was run around outside during a heavy downpour. The splash of temperate rain water on your body was always exhilarating. We would find the house with the heaviest concentration of rain pouring down from a roof overhang and stand under it for an extended period of time. Occasional lightning would flash, and loud, rumbling thunder would roll every so often. We would run around the whole neighborhood in the rain until we got tired.
The fun ended when we got the scolding from our parents, worried about us getting sick or getting struck by lightning. The water and mud we tracked inside the house were also reasons we were yelled at. It was well worth all the scolding we got from our parents. We avoided playing this game during the typhoons, heavy rain accompanied by strong winds, for fear of getting hit by flying debris such as corrugated roof material, and falling trees and structures.
These boyhood memories came back often to me this past summer as I walked around the sites for the construction I am overseeing, in the midst of 120+ degree F heat under the searing sun and drenched in sweat. Instead, I was longing to be drenched in the refreshing tropical downpour.
No comments:
Post a Comment