We got quite a bit of rain earlier this week.

 

I can tell because now I have to be careful not to get stuck in the mud when I drive between my house and farm buildings.

 

It happens every spring, and I know sometimes I complain about the mud and how it gets tracked in the house and splatters the car.

 

But I like the rain.

 

I always have.

 

I remember growing up in New Jersey, I played a lot of baseball. Sometimes the rain stopped us from playing our Little League games.

 

But even then, I enjoyed sitting near my window and looking out at the rain.

 

The heavier the better.

 

As I got older, I realized my fondness for rain had nothing to do with being a kid. On weekends, if it was raining, I’d get an umbrella and walk through one of the historic neighborhoods in Jersey City.

 

If it was raining heavily, I’d usually be the only one outside. But that made it even better. Sometimes it felt like I had the city all to myself.

 

I was curious about people who liked the rain so recently I decided to look it up online.

 

I found rain lovers have a name - pluviophiles.

 

From what I’ve read so far, pluviophiles are considered to be happier than the average person. We don’t get upset when there’s a rainy-day forecast. We don’t whine about being wet and cold.

 

We appreciate the scent of a fresh storm and we like the sound it makes on the rooftop. Even today, I find it easier to sleep when I can hear the rain on the roof. It also helps that my roof is pretty new.

 

We’re also known as people who live in the moment. We don’t care much about what people think when they see us walking through puddles.

 

While most people get moody on a dreary, cloudy day, I seem to feel more alive.

 

My favorite time of year is the fall, when the leaves are falling and there’s a light drizzle. It still reminds me of my years running cross country in high school through Lincoln Park.

The rain was a refreshing way to cool off over that three-mile course.

 

Eventually, the weather began to cool off as the season went on. When temperatures dropped below freezing, that’s when my love of precipitation ended.

 

The puddles froze. The wind picked up and made being outside too uncomfortable. Then the rain turned to snow.

 

Now snow lovers - they’re just idiots.