Ya Know….there is something nice about being at the camp during a heavy rainstorm. The sound of the rain on the roof, the cozy warmth of a fire in the wood stove staving off the dampness.
It’s one of those nights for us, tucked away at the camp, all nice and cozy on a Sunday night. The dreaded Sunday night of a few years ago when I had to work on Mondays, has become one of my favorite nights of the week.
The steady patter of the rain on the roof reminds me of so many summers that have passed. So many nights I spent here at the camp, listening to the rain on the roof as I slipped off to sleep.
In those days my time at the camp was often about salmon fishing and the sound of a freshet of rain on the roof was surely music to my ears. When I was salmon fishing I would spend a lot of time here alone, and the sound of the rain was the only company I had. If it came in the form of a thunder and lightening storm, all the better, a sound and light show on the lake.
But mostly it meant a little rise in water levels in the river, bringing with it a fresh run of salmon or sea trout out of the ocean, fresh and full of fight and ready to grab my hand tied fly as it floated across the pool.
As time went by the sound of rain on the roof became less happy. How many nights I laid in bed listening to the rain on the roof and praying it would stop before morning so my children could get out and play and enjoy the things the camp had to offer young children in summer.
Rain during summer vacation with the children was not as welcome as rain when I was a hard driving salmon fisherman. My prayers to the rain gods took on a whole different tone, especially when it rained for days and days as it so often did on summer vacation.
As the thunder rolls, (to quote a Garth Brooks song) so does time. Now I find myself tucked away at the camp with my darling Wendy, listening to the rain on the roof. It’s different now though. I am not for or against the rain, simply able to enjoy it for it’s own sake.
If the lake water comes up, OK, and if it continues to rain tomorrow, that’s OK too because I am happy to be alive, to be at the camp, and to be able hear the rain on the roof.
