If I were to visit any place in the country, I would be envied for living in “sunny California”. People wonder how nice it must be to live in the most docile-weathered state, resting between beautiful mountains and the big blue Pacific. However, this constant sunshine comes at a price; the mountains turn black and the flowers littering the coast dissipate.

In January of 2014, Governor Brown declared a State of Emergency regarding the lack of rainfall in California. Since then, endless efforts have been made to prepare for the negative effects caused by drought – from decreasing the amount of time watering yards to conserve supplies, to hiring a surplus of firefighters for the increased vulnerability to blazes.

As with most long-lasting issues, citizens learn to live with them and even sometimes forget that they exist. Californians became accustomed to living within dead hills and seeing smoke in the distance. I was born in Ventura, but moved to Texas in 2001.

My childhood memories of Southern California are filled with green grass and golden poppies. Upon my return to Moorpark in 2015, I was horrified to see the remnants of my home withered and dried up. Yet, many people I would address it to didn’t even remember a time before the rain practically disappeared.

Many students here at Moorpark College are young enough to not quite recall the luscious landscape I left in 2001. As Southern California native, 20 year old Brandon Resnick has few memories of the pre-drought days. However, Resnick is not unaware of the negative effects the dry years have brought with them.

“It probably affected a lot of people, only ‘cause of the major water shortage,” said Resnick. “Bills went up a ton because of going over the water limit.”

Change is a hard thing to deal with sometimes, especially if it has any effect on your daily routine. In the case of rain in our local area, it may as well be a natural disaster itself.

Floods and mudslides can devastate roads and homes, costing a fortune in damage and sometimes even taking lives. Californians often find themselves struggling with the acceptance of this unusual weather.

“I enjoyed it for the first week,” said Rusnick. “Then it got kind of old.”

Even though it has it’s negative aspects and may not be ideal to all, there is no denying the dire need of rain that our home has been in. After all, water is a necessity to life. There is also no way to deny the impact this last wet season has had on the environment; it surrounds our entire campus.

All of California is blossoming into spring with more color than the state has seen in years. For studio arts major Macklyn McCormick, there is nothing but admiration for the uncanny change in weather.

“It’s kind of fun because in California, since we don’t have a lot of rain, it’s kind of like a snow day for us,” said McCormick. “We don’t get many opportunities to stay inside and be cozy.”

Growing up in Texas, I am no stranger to rain – despite the popular belief that the whole state is a desert. Much of my childhood involved weeks of endless storms, to an extremity that most Californians have never experienced.

I was not a fan of the intense weather in the south, and constantly dreamed of making my way back to the endless west coast sunshine. Currently, after returning to Southern California almost two years ago, I relish every drop of rain. When I look around me, it seems that our environment feels the same way. The earth needs to be watered just like ourselves, even if it means bumping your speed down on the freeway.

“It seems like California is like eternal summer,” said McCormick. “If it weren’t for the rains, we wouldn’t see spring.”