What Came After

A few nights ago, it was raining outside. I said wanted it to rain, and it did. But guess what I found after the rain?

Nothing. Nothing. 

I discovered it's not about what comes after the rain. It's about the rain itself. The rainbows are part of the rain, not something to hold my breath for afterward. 

I opened my bedroom window so I could see it and smell it and hear it and taste it and feel it, because that's the only way to learn from it. 

The rain is the hurt and the tears.

But with it comes the joy and the laughter. The rain is what changes people. What comes afterward is beautiful, but the rainbows aren't the reason for the rain. The rain is what matters. 

When the rain stops, maybe I'll close my window and climb into bed. Or maybe I'll already be asleep by then. I don't want the rain to stop quite yet.