flooding the new year

We're driving along the Embarcadero, on our way towards the Presidio. It has been raining for days--mudslides and flooding up north, sand bags bordering storefronts. As an aesthetic experience, I love rain. This is due to my more basic lust for water--any water. Lakes, ponds, oceans, swimming pools, baths: catching sight of a body of water, my immediate response is an overwhelming desire to be in it. So it is not a surprise that my reaction to the flooded sea walls along the Embarcadero was one of joy: the water has come to meet us! Slowly, we drove along the Embarcadero, watching the brown waves foam and slap into the buildings. My happiness at the water's nearness was somewhat irrational, as M., who had been concerned of being stuck in the flooding, pointed out to me later. Irrational, but accurate nonetheless.