By Neely Malik

I’ve never really been one to latch onto the little things.

But sometimes, moments, memories, or phrases, they stay with you.

There’s always this one moment that comes back to me whenever I feel that first drop of rain hit my skin. I know it’s going to be a good day.

“Don’t be sad, you know walking in the rain cleanses the soul, right?” my mom said to me one especially cloudy afternoon.

We had decided to go for a hike at our favorite park, it had beautiful trails and bridges, my favorite playground, and the huge boulder I loved to climb on; As a six-year-old, it was by far the most anticipated event of my week.

Ten minutes into our hike, the sun began to hide behind the clouds. Five minutes later the first drop hit my hand. I looked up at my mom, feeling all the feelings of a disappointed six-year-old. The excitement drained from my face as the raindrops became heavier. The afternoon was ruined, and I was losing all the fun things we had planned for.

Just as I began to run and hide under cover from the rain, my mom grabbed my hand.

“Wait,” she said, holding me in place as I tried to run away and avoid getting rained on. She started to twirl me around, laughing. “Don’t be sad, you know walking in the rain cleanses the soul, right?”

Skeptically, I trusted her. As always, she was right.

We laughed, danced, ran, and walked, getting soaking wet throughout it all. At the time, I giggled and twirled and spun around with my mom. Looking back, I know what she said is true. At six, you can only know so much, but I could tell that after that outing, both of our souls really had been cleansed.

What could have been a non memorable, bad day, turned into something that has followed me throughout my life.

From that day on, I never shy away from a little rain. As the rain weighs my clothes down heavier and heavier, somehow, the weight on my shoulders always becomes a little lighter.