rains in asia

When I was younger, my family always drove down to Clearwater Beach, Florida, for about 10 days around the 4th of July - Daddy's birthday. We would always leave sometime in the middle of the night because Daddy liked to drive through the night; it would be cooler without the sun beating down through the windows. We'd have everything packed full in the van and on the trailer ready to go, so that when it was time to leave, nothing really needed to be done. It was always very humid, even in dead of night.

On the road, when everyone else was asleep except Daddy, who was driving usually, I'd stare out the window. I remember resting my head against the window pane, and it was always so cold. The heat and humidity of my body would fog up the area around my face. I would watch the streetlights and the few headlights that passed by. I always just felt so alive in those moments, late at night, traveling. Going somewhere. It just felt important, life-changing.

Even now, I'm old enough to drive and have my own car, and I still get mesmerized driving on the highway at night. I wonder why the rest of these people are on the road and where they are going. And if it is important or life-changing. And I wonder who they are. If there's somebody else out there who's thinking the same thing about me.

There's something about it that touches my soul, something that I cannot quite describe or pinpoint. There is no word or phrase or definition for it. Sometimes it frustrates me that I cannot express this feeling inside me. It's like infinity.

"And she wants to know
Does everyone feel this way
When it rains in Asia
It makes her feel this way
California, London, Bombay
It makes her feel this way
And she wants to know
Is it always raining somewhere"
-Jump Little Children