This morning a brief glimpse of fall arrived when I opened my eyes. It was dark and it was raining. Pouring rain that echoed off the roof and rushed out of our gutters. I’ve never minded rainy days. I find them relaxing and they bring a welcome excuse to stay inside and read or write or watch a favorite movie (my personal three favorite films for rainy days: Murder on the Orient Express, The Shawshank Redemption and Gosford Park). I also have no fear of thunderstorms. I love to watch them from my front porch and there is nothing more soothing than going to sleep to the sound of a summer storm.

All that being said, I like rain but this morning when I woke up, I heard the rain and I felt relief. It’s been a dry summer, as in Indiana is suffering from one of the worst droughts on record. The corn is lying dead in the fields, hay is absurdly expensive, farmers markets are missing melons and berries and tomatoes and lawns are all various shades of brown. In the last week or so residents of Indiana have seen some relief in scattered showers here and there but this morning came the first real, soaking rain that we’ve seen in months.

On my way to work, I had to turn on my windshield wipers and swerve around growing lakes of water from blocked storm drains. Indiana is flat, so when it rains, the water pools into mini lakes all around town. As a testament to how dry it has been this summer, in the past when we did get a little rain, there were no small lakes or even a puddle to speak of. The ground just sucked the water right up and looked for more.

It’s too late to salvage much of what the drought has taken from farmers and residents of Indiana this summer, but I hope for a wet, soggy fall that will lead to snowy winter to replenish the water table and bring green lawns and full gardens next spring.