Sitting on a covered porch during a rainstorm alone is like the world pressing pause just for you.

Rain gives you a legitimate excuse to do nothing, which is rarer than it should be. Nothing can be expected of you while it is coming down, there is a wall of sound covering everything else, and you are dry and still and out of the way. The pause is not really the weather’s doing; the weather just provides a reason you are willing to accept.

Next time it rains hard and you are not needed anywhere, go and sit under cover and watch it. Nothing playing, nothing to finish, no photograph of it. Stay until you are a little bored, then stay a few minutes more.