Today is Friday and today is the day, a different day. The day in which we wake up with a different light, almost no light, the day we don't see the blue sky but gray, the day when there is only a strange silence, just the drops of water that fall hard on some roofs. And at some point, the sound of the storm.
Yeah, it's raining, that's weird. Normally every day is the same, or similar, clear or with clouds that come and go without further ado, passing… But today something has changed, it will be because the season of the year has finally changed, now. Everything comes.
And a day like this had to come, in which to open the window and feel the humid and colder wind, a strange feeling after so long, months of heat. I take a deep breath, the air is accompanied by water and electrical rays that reverberate through those thick and dark clouds.
Image source: Unsplash.com (by Raychel Sanner)
While everything remains calm at a slower pace, people shut up, look at the sky and feel. Everything is dark around, a leaden and monotonous tone, those rays are the only ones that for a fraction of a second illuminate our view.
Image source: Unsplash.com (by Danielle Dolson)
We continue to stare out the window, fascinated like little children by the tremendous concert of thunder and thunderous heavy rain. We open the window again, we can't resist, and we take a deep breath, finally clean air loaded with oxygen and more ozone, ozone therapy in a natural version, and what about that smell? It is a unique smell that also has a distinctive and poetic name that I love, it smells like rain and that smell is Petrichor. A characteristic scent that gives life and make us feel alive.
Image source: Unsplash. com (by Philip Zrnzević) and edited by me with Canva
Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪˌkɔːr/)[1] is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra) 'rock', or πέτρος (pétros) 'stone', and ἰχώρ (ikhṓr), the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods in Greek mythology. - Source: Wikipedia
It brings to life all those somewhat distressed and parched trees and crop fields, a land that longed for a little extra water to soak in and stay, but not wash away. That is usually the problem, after waiting time and anxiety, it comes with too much intensity and force to be absorbed and used as we would like. Hopefully it can, that there is no damage but it does water everything with a lot of new life.
I reflect on the changes, weather changes and time changes, everything is intertwined, everything changes quickly. Yesterday the sun was on my face, I felt almost hot in short sleeves, but today everything seems completely different, you have to bundle up and look from the inside.
Our eyes must also get used to the change in light, to other shades, to other sensations. Our ears remember the sound of the storm, which remained only in the memory of months ago. We can feel on our skin the cold drops of water that fall one after another. And we can breathe a new renewed and purer air, and that smell that brings back old memories, it smells of rain, of wet earth, of streets full of puddles, it smells of petrichor.
Cars, streets and facades are washed, as well as our minds. We think for a moment, in those forgotten things, "where do I have the umbrella and the rain boots?" Those saved and ignored items, perhaps their day has finally come. Maybe just for a day, because we know this doesn't last. That it will be something temporary until the clouds decide, and everything will end relatively soon, and everything will return to a shimmering calm. The sun will warm our face again and light up our days.
Image source: Unsplash.com (by Donald Tran)
And it seems almost like a dream, a different place out of that usual sunny and bright reality of almost every day, a strange feeling, dim and dull, that awakens our senses, and it is real because we suddenly wake up, by the sound of the storm and the smell of the rain.
November 11, 2022More articles here!
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This text is totally mine by ©Duvinca
The photos are from Unsplash.com, the third photo also edited by me with Canva
I have also published this article on Hive (Ecency)
I'M ALSO HERE: Ecency(Hive) / Publish0x / Odysee
Thanks! Well some adjectives are not so common so I had to find the correct translation to English in order to keep more less the same sense as I thought it. Happy you like it.
We call that "alimu-om" in our language :) I do love that kind of smell but it's not the same anymore. Since man-made structures occupy almost every inch of land, when it rains, it's now stench, disgusting attack to the nose. Instead of alimu-om, it's now miasma.
I still experience alimu-om in provinces, away from human congestion.
Oh really, another interesting word, in our language is very similar to English, just one letter less... petricor. Because it comes from Greek ancient culture I guess. And it's true in big cities that charming scent is not the same, but in small areas still. The good thing here is there are many cultives still around and I live in a quite small place so somehow I can feel a bit. And after six long summer months, this feels great.
I learned from your article my friend. A lot of words and terms that it's my first time to encounter.