Photograph by Robert C. Clark

A birthday party at Johns Island. A cloudburst sends adults scurrying for cover. Not this brave five-year-old. The rain stops him in his tracks whereupon he invites the drops to trickle down his face.

In the midst of the rain the sun breaks out and the devil beats his wife just as life beats the kid out of us. Kids, little puddle stompers, love playing in the rain. Adults don’t.

It takes a raindrop fifteen minutes to grow big enough to fall to earth. Adults grow up and run from raindrops prompting an innocent seven-year-old to ask his mom, “When do big people start to hate the rain?”

Yes, when? Some adults walk in the rain. Others just get wet. Which one are you?

If there’s a roof over your head when it rains, pray that it’s tin. If you get caught in the rain, pray that a child lives in you. Embrace the marvelous miracle. Life sounds, feels, smells, and looks different in the rain. Be a kid now and then. Find rising joy in falling water. Walk in the rain. It’s not against the law, and when all’s said and done you may see another miracle—one shimmering with primary colors.