Tonight we had our first Thunderstorm of the year in the Heart of the Sunni-Triangle in Iraq. It was amazing. The entire night sky was filled with flashes and streaks of light. I felt like I was standing inside one of those huge static electricity balls you often find in Gag gift stores. Streaks of lightning seemed to arch completely across the night sky. They were zigzagging, diverging, then converging and slamming straight down to the desert floor below. The thunder seemed so crisp like it was a roar with a snap. I stayed outside my room watching Mother Nature’s own fireworks show until I noticed something so bizarre yet so remotely familiar. Rain! I couldn’t believe it! It had been only eight months since I last saw a rain shower. Yet, in a strange way, this put a huge smile upon my face as I listened to the light raindrops tap on the thin metal roofs of our trailer park. The unmistakable smell of fresh rain swept through the air. It was over almost as quickly as it began. It was just a small reminder of the simple things back home that happen around us and make up our normal lives that we all see, but, don’t really see. Take the time to smell the…rain.
