It was warm today...too warm...what happened to spring?...we went from chilly winter to summer...no bueno! One of the things I miss the most about the mid west are the thunder-boomers...those big, dark, windy thunderstorms that rattle your house...I really really really miss those. I sat around today pondering what exactly it is that I miss about those, or rather, what exactly it is that I love about them. I remember how frightened my friends were about thunderstorms and lightening and wind. I remember how they would cry when they were happening or even shudder just talking about them. I have never, ever feared them. I was fascinated if it got suddenly dark in the middle of the day. I thought that was the coolest thing on the planet. So, I really tried hard to get into this old brain and really mine it for all it's worth to try to find out why I love those storms so much....here's what I came up with....
I heard once, when I was very very young, that the darkness was a blanket that God was putting over you....that it was His way of "tucking you in". I thought that was a nice way of looking at things, and while it didn't work at night, it sure did work when it got dark during the day due to stormy conditions, so that may be one of the reasons....I'm not certain...
Also, there was something comforting about all of the racket going on outside while I was safe, warm and dry inside. It was a reminder that I was taken care of...I was out of the elements....even when the boomers made the windows rattle, I loved it...when that happened, I was very much a "bring it on" little nonverbal kid....what a weirdo...
I loved it that nature was exerting itself...does that make sense?...every day was so passive...it was warm, or cold, or drizzly, or this, or that...but when those big, dramatic clouds would pile up and the wind would bend the trees and smash your clothes against your body right before the rain would deluge the gutters and the streets...wow...that was nature having a "come to Jesus talk" with the neighborhood saying she was large-and-in-charge-and-sit-back-cause-I'm-driving-this-bus-for-awhile-sister, and I was way all right with that...it felt good to know that someone bigger was the boss, at least to me anyway....
Well, that's what I thought about today....not the economy, not any homework or exams, not housework....just why I loved thunderstorms so much as a kid growing up in the great mid west...
6 comments:
I have inherited your love for those. Must be all those negative ions floating around just before hand, too. They are so wonderful. I wish Jacob could experience one.But, not Mae. She'd be under the bed. And . . .Clark would. .stop breathing.
i ADORE them, deb. A.DORE. them.
you know how so many people say that they were fascinated by the part in The Wizard of Oz when the house lands, dorothy wakes up, goes outside, and everything is calm and in color? well, that's precisely the point when i STOPPED liking the movie. the storm was over. blah.
Em: yea, I left out the negative ion part...good for you for remembering!!! Your kids would probably be afraid...yes...because they hadn't grown up with them...I don't know what accounts for some people liking them and some (most) being frightened by them....it's interesting.
Nancy: How do you think you came to like them? I'm assuming that Abby enjoys them also...you two seem to be sympatico on the weather...and that is funny about the Oz movie....hahhahahaahahhha
I do love them. It's that cozy thing that comes with snow too. But I am also afraid of them. Both emotions to the extreme. I am afraid of the possibility of tornadoes and so I flip out a little bit. i remember getting my sleeping bag and other necessities out and huddling by the door to the basement until my parents said it was time to go down. That fear increased when my parents got divorced because there was always someone I couldn't keep tabs on to make sure they were safe.
Wow. Spill my guts a little more why don't I? Signing off!
Abby...I love you so much....that was such an honest thing to divulge there....and your reaction was so cute....and yes! the threat of tornadoes is always kind of present with those storms...but you know, since moving out here in earthquake country, I much prefer a tornado to an earthquake any day of the week...tornadoes are way more sporadic and less likely to rip you up, but an earthquake? ...fageddaboudit...it's over for everyone!!!....
I LOVED those, too...and if it was late at night, my brothers and I would watch from their window...or the absolute best...we'd sneak out on the big back covered patio with a blanket and be "part of it" and actually get hit by some of the horizontal rain. I remember driving to DC to get married. Driving along with my "Idaho spud" and we were smack in the middle of a super "thunder-boomer", which was going the same way we were, so it lasted and lasted, and he was "blown away". hahahaha blown away....I kill myself. But I saw it as a good luck sign and felt so safe in the car with my honey and a little CCR and James Taylor.
Anyway, Michelle was always so scared of them. She would come and snuggle between us, or want to make her bed in the hall, where there were NO windows and best of all, people she loved in any direction in case she needed someone. (and that was just last year) (ok...so maybe not)
Interesting.
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