Confusion "Rains"

I love being outside this time of year, mused Cadbury in blissfully contented canine inner dialogue, when the weather is warmer, the days are longer, and all of the trees and other plants begin to burst their buds and show the forms and colors of their true nature. I don’t even mind the rain that much because, as Logan once explained to me, it is the rain that makes the flowers grow.

“Cadbury?” Cadbury’s reverie was broken by Bear’s rambunctious, though not entirely unwelcome, approach. “Yes, Bear, what can I do for you?” Cadbury replied, slowly opening his eyes to gaze fondly at the slightly smaller, significantly younger, mostly-black version of himself.

“Cadbury, I’m confused by something I heard one of our humans say today. The eldest female told the eldest male that she was going to a ‘baby shower.’ I know that babies are the really small humans that seem to appear when humans organize themselves into pairs, and I’ve heard you call the rain coming down from the sky a ‘shower,’ so is that how human babies show up? Do they come down from the sky like the rain?”

Cadbury laughed a laugh like he hadn’t laughed in a very long time. “I’m sorry, Bear, I didn’t mean to be rude by laughing like that. And I’m certainly not laughing at you. It’s just that there are so many different questions imbedded in the one you just asked, that I’m not quite sure where to begin in responding to you!”

“Let’s save part of the answer for another day, and we can discuss how humans often use one word to mean many different things. I’ve found that challenging and confusing myself.”

“The word ‘shower’ is a good example. You are absolutely correct that it can apply to the rain, but note that it actually can be used in two ways: as the description of a thing – a ‘rain shower’ – or an action – ‘the rain is showering.’ It also can refer to one of the ways humans clean themselves by standing in a small, enclosed room and letting water pour down upon them like the rain – the room and the device that delivers the water are each called a ‘shower,’ and the action of being washed by the water is called ‘showering.’”

“Now, to make things even more complicated (the humans are responsible for that, not me), the word ‘shower’ can also mean a large amount or outpouring of something occurring or being given all at once. You may remember that our humans held a party a while ago to celebrate the upcoming pairing of the male offspring of our human family with the female offspring of another family, at which the couple were given many gifts. The humans call that a ‘wedding shower’ because it happened before the human pairing ceremony which they call a ’wedding.’ Sometime after that ceremony, it is not unusual for the paired couple to get prepared to welcome their own small human, which as you correctly noted earlier they call a ‘baby.’ The impending arrival of a baby can be the cause of great joy among the humans; when they hold a party in celebration, and give gifts to the couple, that is what is called a ‘baby shower.’ Does that help you understand?”

“Yes, I think so,” replied Bear. “But the humans give each other gifts at other times too, like when they cut down a perfectly good tree and bring it into the house, then place colored boxes and packages underneath it – is that also called a shower?”

“No, that is what they refer to as a ‘holiday,’ and involves one of their most important celebrations. I will explain that particular holiday in more detail once we get to the time of year once again when the days are shorter and snow begins to fall.”

Bear thought on that for a moment, attempting to absorb all that Cadbury had told him, then posed another question: “Cadbury, if not from the sky, where do human babies come from?”

At that moment, and to Cadbury’s great relief, their conversation was interrupted by a loud peal of thunder. “That question will have to wait,” said Cadbury to Bear, ‘because right now we had better get under shelter quickly or we are going to get very wet!”