Another Rainy Twilight
by Megan Weiss
Sherwood, OR
Living on Parrett Mountain in Sherwood has many pros and few, if any, cons. The pros are that we are perched up high enough to overlook the entire Wilamette Valley, and we’re close enough to the vineyards of Yamhill that we’re surrounded by it in a quick bike ride.
One evening this summer, I decided to go for a long walk down our hill to get some fresh air. It was about six thirty in the evening, and I decided to bring my camera since the sun was shining exceptionally beautiful that evening.
I was about a mile down the hill when all of a sudden the clouds started rolling in, and the heat of the afternoon was broken by a slight breeze. Dark shadows started looming over me just as quick as they arrived, and before I knew it, I was caught in the dead center of an August rain shower.
Having nothing to protect myself or my camera and being too far from home to run for cover, I decided to embrace the break in the heat and embrace the rain for what it was. Being a true Oregonian, we have to learn to live with the rain and either love it or hate it. But I saw it in a different light that evening.
As I walked back to my house and looked to my left, I saw beauty among the darkness and knew I had my camera at just the right place and time, in close to my own backyard. How beautiful the rain was coming down against the backdrop of something that encapsulates Oregon so beautifully– country, agriculture, and the farm community. It was then that I knew that night was not just another rainy night in Oregon– I was truly thankful to call it my home.
