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How the smell of rain makes you feel

The smell of rain brings out the earthiness of the world around me. I feel fresh and renewed. I feel connected to the world around me, especially if I have been caught in the rain myself. While I love the warmth of sunny day, the smell before the rain fills me with wonder. People before haven't believed me when I've said I could smell that it was going to rain, but I swear that I can (although here in Ireland it would be hard to prove because it's seemingly always going to rain).

The smell before the rain makes me wide-eyed and childlike. I love to watch the rain, water droplets forming on everything around me and the world being painted a new color and the clean yet earthy smell before the rain lets me know that soon I will get to see these things. Soon I can splash like a child as I walk through puddles. Soon I can wear my lovely blue raincoat and be out among the droplets, dry as I please. Then the rain smells smells like wonder and anticipation.

During the rain, I don't smell as much. Perhaps that's because I'm often inside or bustling about to somewhere so I don't take the time to smell the rain. I feel it though. Hitting my raincoat and my legs and even the top of my head if it's simply too warm to keep the hood up. It usually gets on some of my hair, forming beautiful little droplets or completely soaking it and making it beautifully curly. Even in the worst storms, I remember getting completely drenched with a dear friend and just roaring in laughter as I stepped deliberately in a puddle because how could we possibly get any more wet? Then the rain smells like beauty and memories.

There's also something satisfying about watching the rain come down from inside. Being cuddled up under fluffy covers with a mug of hot cocoa and just watch the world drink it all in, listen to gentle roar of rain hitting the pavement, the roof, the ground. I feel safe and cozy. And then rain smells like chocolate and sugar and milk and warmth.

After the rain is the smell I love the best. The world is fresh and crystals of water droplets that gleam in the sunshine. I take as many photos as I can without ruining the knees of my jeans in the damp earth. Everything shines brighter after the rain. Everything smells more alive after the rain. I still get to even splash in puddles like a child if I want. I can still get my hair that rain misted look if I just gently pull on a tree branch. And then the leftover rain smells like all of the things it did before.

The smell of rain can make me feel so many things. It can make me feel like a child filled with awe, like some of my fondest memories, like a rain-soaked beauty, like someone wrapped in comfort and safety, and all of these things all at once.

(Prompt by Matthew Smith)

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