There is something undeniably wonderful about waking up to the sound of rain after months and months of drought.
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Even better is the news that the majority of the fires that have monstered southern Canberra and NSW are mostly extinguished, and some communities have finally seen some serious rainfall.
But it's important that we don't turn away from those communities that have a long road of recovery ahead.
We may finally be able to enjoy our usual clean air and clear skies, to stop googling "Fires near me", to stop worrying about how to keep away from the smoke.
We can - and should - start planning trips to the coast again, if only out of a feeling of solidarity for all of those who so recently stared down the wrath of Mother Nature.
But we should never forget what it was like to watch the news play out in real time, the horror and the helplessness, the knowledge that so many others were experiencing far worse.
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And from the inside looking out, it must sometimes feel as though the rest of the country has moved on from the horrors of mid-summer, the endless infernos, the raging weather.
It's the nature of the news cycle - the fires, the smoke, the hail, the rain, and then onto the next thing.
But it's worth remembering that for those communities directly in the path of the calamity of summer, the process of picking up the pieces has only just begun.
There are entire towns barely standing, hundreds of families without homes, and the effects of trauma that will play out in different ways in the months and years to come.
There are also many small towns that have been directly affected, if not by fire, then by the trickle effect of the necessary halt in visitor numbers.
Hot weather and holidays normally spell prosperity for towns on the way to and along the coast.
But not many insurance policies would cover severe business downturn as the direct result of nearby, if not distant, weather events.
It's worth remembering that for those communities directly in the path of the calamity of summer, the process of picking up the pieces has only just begun.
And there's no way to prepare for the complicated effect of material loss, of survivor's guilt, of mental and physical exhaustion.
The recent rain has helped immeasurably - it was, as Peter Brewer wrote in Saturday's edition, "As if a giant switch had been thrown in the upper atmosphere".
"While that help arrived too late to save lives, homes and stock already smashed by bushfires, this rare offshore weather system intervened to rekindle hope for the rural regions and in doing so, replenished collective energy levels," he wrote.
There's more rain on the way - including for dry, brown Canberra - and farming communities are hedging their bets as they look to the land with optimism.
But as was the case 17 years ago, in the wake of Canberra's own destructive firestorm, we should be reminded of the dangers of complacency, and take all precautionary measures to be prepared in the future.
Meanwhile, just a couple of hours are way are countless communities waking up each day to a very different reality.
From fires to floods, our beloved South Coast has taken a battering, and it's up to us here, in our privileged pocket of relatively unscathed Australia (warehouses full of hail-damaged cars notwithstanding) to show our support in any way we can. The towns we know and love need us now more than ever.