Rain, rain go away — come again another day.

I’ve been repeating that like a mantra for the last few days. This morning I awoke to another gray, cloudy, humid day and the sound of drops from yesterday’s rain falling from the trees onto my roof.

The world looks soggy and the air feels heavy. I don’t know what it is about a parade of wet days that brings an intense longing for sunshine, but for me that’s what happens. I know the sun peeks through every now and then, but it is a short visit and often is the fuel that fires off another shower.

I stood at my door looking at the puddles on my deck that don’t have a chance to dry before the sky opens up and makes new ones. The cushions that are usually on my lounge chairs sit in a stack beside my door, giving the dog and cat a nice soft bed for napping while the rain falls.

I don’t like this gloomy feeling. So I decided to do my best to find positive things about this unwanted weather pattern. That, I found, took some digging and searching; but I finally came up with a few happier thoughts.

First, as always, there is the good news that when it rains it relieves me of the task of watering the stuff growing in my yard and in the pots sitting all around my yard. Lots of minutes open up for other activities when I don’t have to spend them dragging water hoses around. So that’s something to appreciate.

Now to find more good thoughts about this weather. Let me think. There must be more than just one thing.

Love bugs or rather the lack thereof — that’s another positive. It seems the rain and love bug are not that compatible because this year’s crop isn’t as large as past years. I know this by the number accumulating on the front of my car and flying around my head every time I walk outside. So there is a second nice thought I managed to think.

I’m on a roll now. There is certainly less dust in the air because of the rain, and that is good when you live at the end of a road that generates a rust-red cloud that settles on everything. It takes very little time without rain before mud changes to dust; so the wet weather is good for dust prevention.

Oh, I’ll bet rain washes pollen away as well. Surely the showers cleanse the air and that’s good for folks with allergies.

I see birds drinking from puddles and flapping their wings in the water. I guess the rain creates a ready-made bath for our feathered friends and it is fun to watch them enjoying themselves.

Reading and napping — now what is a better setting for those two things than a rainy afternoon? I can’t go outside and once the inside stuff is done the sound of rain invites me to pick up a good book. And in the midst of reading I might drift off for a bit of a cat nap. Something I probably wouldn’t do on a sunny day.

That’s more than five positive things that come with rainy weather and I feel better already. So maybe the problem with my mood wasn’t the lack of sunshine, but my decision not to appreciate life as it is — rain or shine.

I’d still like to see a clear blue sky and feel the kiss of cool, dry fall air, but in this moment with nicer thoughts swirling around in my head, I’m smiling and not reciting, “rain, rain go away,” with quite as much intensity.