[Diary] Wrapping the Rain

It started raining this afternoon.
Clear skies are nice, but I also like rainy days.
If it rains on a day I wanted to do laundry, I change my tune pretty quickly, but when I'm indoors listening to the sound of the rain outside, I feel more wrapped up in the room than usual. The lights in the house, which should be the same as yesterday, feel somehow softer.

I think it's because I like the feeling of wrapping and being wrapped, and it makes me feel secure.
I love curling up in a futon, and if it's cold inside the house, I sometimes put on the hood of my hoodie.

I'm not very good at it, but I like gift wrapping, and even for gifts, I just get the wrapping set and wrap them myself. I cut red, white, and gold origami paper into thin strips to make noshi, and if the amount is modest, I even make my own money envelopes. Ever since I learned that I could make an inner envelope out of a single sheet of A4 paper, I've started wrapping those too.

What I realized with today's weather is that I feel a certain charm in clear plastic umbrellas that is the same as the scent of a vending machine. In my twenties, I painted a portrait of a person holding a clear plastic umbrella under a cloudy sky.

Back then, I was even worse at verbalizing things or interacting with others than I am now, so I didn't even know what I wanted to convey, but now I think I'm drawn to the way they both have an inorganic quality that makes me feel someone's presence, and the way they seem to accept anyone, which dwells within these inanimate objects.

I really value this time when I can occasionally remember the past and connect it to the present, and the fact that I was able to think about umbrellas and vending machines today is actually thanks to a reply I received on social media, which makes me very happy. Thank you.

I'm the type who absolutely cannot live without time alone, but I also learn a lot from interactions with people, and fragments of images start to emerge.
I cannot live alone.

While being grateful for being wrapped in a circle of people,
I will carefully wrap up today's rain.