Anyway, its been super stormy. And I love it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. When I was a little kid my mom would wake me up and bring me out onto the porch to watch the storms when they rolled through late at night. We would sit on our porch, which was a real porch with a roof and a railing and a swing, wrapped in blankets because the rain would be cold. The wind would blow and the lightening would flash and thunder would crash. And my mom sitting there next to me, so solid and calm and THERE, and the safety of the house right there, I felt absolutely safe and absolutely loved.
Other kids were afraid of the storms. As adults some of them are still afraid of storms. As a kid, I thought it was a little silly. I knew that sometimes storms got bad and knocked down houses and tossed people and trees and cars around, but I also knew how to hide in a basement, and interior bathroom or a ditch if I needed.
Now as an adult, I've witnessed tornados several times. I've driven through hurricane strength winds and seen the funnels in my rear view mirror. I've helped friends and strangers clean up messes left by storms and I've seen the personal and material devistation that can happen. But I am still not afraid of the storms. I get watchful when I know they are bad. I take cover when I know I need to. But I am also drawn to the power and force embodied in the storms. Nothing can match the primal tone of a thunder storm.
And I feel pity for the adults I know who are still so anxious of storms. I wonder if the anxiety is because they were raised by fearful parents. I wonder if their parents never did anything to make them feel safe and loved like my mother did for me when I was small and we watched those storms.
Granted, later she became crazy and a force of terror in her own right. But before that, she was my mom, who loved the storms and taught me to love them too.
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