Celebration in the rain

I grew up on a tobacco farm in what was then Southern Rhodesia. The rainfall was governed by a phenomenon known as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. This is a seasonal weather system that occurs when warm moist air from the Congo basin meets cold dry air coming up from the Kalahari and the south. Where the two meet, the cold air pushes up the warm air and it rains.

It is a capricious system at best; if you're on the cold side you get nothing; if the ITCZ is south of you, you get occasional rain, but not enough. I can remember my parents (at the time, not a very religious pair) almost literally praying for rain. Playing in the rain was something I looked to as the highlight of the rainy season. Rain is always a blessing for me (just as well, as I've lived the last 17years in Seattle).