Did I remember this?

 Early memories. 

I've got a few memories from early childhood. Some I wonder are even real memories. I grew up in downtown Santa Fe. It doesn't rain much here. Still I have some memories of rain. I have a memory of saturated colors on top of a gloomy, gray background. I have memories of galoshes. It's even weird that I remember that name. Galoshes is not a word that many New Mexicans use, I don't think. I also don't think many New Mexicans own galoshes. They don't really need them. 

But I have a memory of them. (I should ask my mom, now that I'm thinking about it. I'll ask her if she remembers buying me some.) I remember putting them on. The color, I think was yellow. I remember vividly that they had metal latches. And I remember going outside in the rain. 

It's probably a real memory. It just feels maybe made up just because of where I grew up and what I was doing. What the weather was doing. 

As an adult, I now can pay more attention to weather patters. I do pay more attention. I think I pay attention because the weather affects me a great deal, and in New Mexico I know it doesn't rain that much. If I bought galoshes today, it would be a pretty silly purchase. It hasn't rained much at all this year. I wouldn't have used them at all this year. I suppose a child might find more use for galoshes. Children are looking for puddles to jump in. Most adults don't. 

That's my memory for today. Galoshes. 

Side note: I did end up eventually living in a place, very briefly, that did require galoshes. I realized it later, after the rainy season ended. That place is Portland, Oregon. I moved there in November 2020 and moved away in May of 2021. I wanted it to work out, it just didn't. Turns out family supports are super important when you have kids. 

But staying on track, galoshes would have been very useful. I remember taking a few hikes with the family in that fall and into the spring. I noticed a lot of people wore, what I can maybe call galoshes. The look like this: 

Yeah, who wouldn't thought you'd need rain boots in a city that receives 5-6 inches of rain per month in the winter. The answer to that question is "everyone but me". I wore my vans and running shoes and my feet suffered as a result. 

Here are some images I could find that kind of resemble my memory of the galoshes I had as a kid. Maybe they were yellow? I'm not sure. I do remember... or maybe I should say "remember" them having a metal latch, or actually a few metal straps in the front. I don't know, maybe I made it all up. 

For comparison, here's the weather chart from Wikipedia for both Santa Fe and Portland. (By the way, these weather charts, or climate chart I should say, are some of my favorite things. I absolutely love these charts.)