Big fat raindrops and puddle pleasures

Yesterday we went out for dinner and while coming back it started raining. Big fat raindrops started falling in copious amounts. B kept complaining that he couldn't see the road while driving. I, of course, was looking out of the window and enjoying the rain. I could understand his inconvenience, but, couldn't help feeling warm and fuzzy inside because of the rain.
The rain reminded me of my childhood - spent in Shillong. In Shillong it used to rain often and it used to rain much. My mother would always complain about clothes lying in the clothes line wet for days. But, me and my sister never had anything to complain about. We loved watching those fat raindrops falling down noisily on the wet soil making big puddles, and drenching the clothes on my mom's clothes line. It would be cold and wet inside the house too, because we never had any centralized heating. So we would just huddle up in a huge quilt and look out of the window at the falling rain.
Schooldays again were a big bother for my mom. She would wake us up, get us dressed and then make us wear hideous raincoats and our huge, unsightly gumboots (I hated those raincoats, I have never understood why raincoats have to be so ugly, I haven't seen a decent looking raincoat anywhere till date!). Then we would walk to school splashing and kicking, never missing a puddle while she would reprimand us all the way for not trying to stay dry. Once in school, we would take off our gumboots and wear socks and shoes which she would bring with her in a bag. It was a long ritual carried on everyday, and many a times it would rain for several days incessantly in Shillong. But I don't remember me and my sister getting tired of it ever. My mom of course hated it.
Yesterday while looking out of the window, I smiled to myself because yet again I could enjoy the rain while B did the complaining and ferrying me across. I thanked him and my mom in my heart. My childhood cannot come back, but for now at least I could still afford the pleasure of not complaining about big, fat raindrops :)
And when we reached home, while getting down from the car, I looked around for a puddle to jump into.But alas! I didn't find any. The "puddle pleasure" apparently wasn't available then. I shall keep looking though.