Here in Malta, a popular question is: are you a summer or winter person?

My question is… why can’t you be both?

We had some good amount of rain showers over the last week, here. Albeit being a “summer person”, I enjoyed commuting in the early hours, listening to the droplets against the roof oy my Demio. I loved going home and – while looking into my wife’s blue eyes during dinner – hearing the raindrops hitting the terrace tiles in the background.

(a lot of the Maltese grumble whenever it rains, and I don’t understand it. I mean, you’d expect better from a people who have clear skies for 9 months out of 12.)

And the smell of rain… Oh I love that smell!

Did you ever notice, however, how the rain is a constant reminder of our littleness? In the hectic routines of our lives, we often forget how little to no control we have on our environment. As something which we cannot control, the rain comes as a small reminder of the truth we conveniently, as human beings, tend to forget: that we are specks of dust in a terrifyingly, immeasurable cosmos.

So, the next time it rains look out your window and show the rain a bit of gratitude. Malta sure needs the rain as much as it needs the summery blue skies. I wouldn’t harrumph and frown at the next grey clouds. There is a time for everything in life… did you know the crisis in Syria all started with drought?

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash