Why do we rejoice when it rains?

The 271 wave on the Cuyahoga River in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northeast Ohio. 

The obvious answer is it means the rivers are running and there is whitewater to explore.

But I think the joy we find in drops of water falling from the sky is because paddlers love nature more deeply than most. And that appreciation, that connection, establishes within us an understanding of the nature of water.

In past eons, we would be farmers. We would be fishermen. We would know the simple beauty that water means life, a lesson we learn today as fierce drought gets a temporary reprieve from El Niño rain and snow storms.

Few others whose livelihood does not rely on rain clouds and swollen rivers grasp this simple truth.

As paddlers we are happy that fun and comradeship is found in healthy flows. But we also learn the bigger picture of the watershed, and rejoice for its recharge each time the skies open.