in a minute....
There was a storm at our house last night. No, that isn’t code for family squabble or mommy erupting at spawn. There was thunder, lightning, water from clouds... the whole business. See, I like a storm, especially when I’m inside and there are no tornadoes or flying rabbit parts involved. I like night storms. I thought I always had. Until last night. I put the kiddos to bed a little later than usual, partly out of my desire to NOT unfold myself from my husbands lap, and also because they were being normal and I like them more that way. Anyway, as usual, I digress. Approximately 3 minutes after tucking said wee ones in, the house was rocked by thunder and some really cool blue lightning. The sound of sheets of rain washing the house soon followed. I turned the last of the lights off in order to enjoy the display for a moment, as I find peace in nature doing what she does so well. The rolling thunder was soon overtaken by the sounds of whimpering from the staircase. Dora was crying. Dora was afraid. I walked over to find her huddled on the stairs, blankie of life wrapped around her head. I picked her up and she twisted her arms and legs around me in a grip that would rival an anaconda’s. Asking her what was wrong (yes, I knew, but I like to allow her to communicate her feelings), she told me, with tears streaming down her face, that the thunder “scared her ears.” She doesn’t like loud noises of any kind, and I found myself wishing I had put her to bed 20 minutes earlier. But had I done that, I would’ve missed the chance to walk her over to the big bay window in the “diamond room” and dance with her to the sounds of the storm. I would’ve missed the chance to tell her the story of raindrops and what life there is in their arrival. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have been able to explain to her, that when I was a small girl afraid of storms, I would pretend to be a blue fairy with see-through wings, and that my house was a giant but delicate flower that protected me from all that raged outside.
I am happy that I remembered. It seems that all we go through in our journey to “here” is what is needed so desperately from others (sometimes family, sometimes not) in order to make this life ride a little less bumpy.
3 comments:
It is such an unexpected wonder to be able to recapture the little girl that I was as I watch my own girls grow.
This was exquisite.
We don;t get thunder storms in Anchorage, something about the mountains and the water and how they combine so warm and cold fronts pass through but don't meet, I don"t know the details. Anyway, that is the one thing about the Lower 48 that I miss the most. I LOVE a good violent thunder storm, the kind that shakes the house and vibrates in your chest and makes you worry about the house getting hit. As a child I had a love/fear relationship with storms that has turned to love.
Thank you so much. It all happens so fast, this growing up they do, and it's nice to find the significance in little moments.... ones that neither of us would remember 10 years from now, but thank God my memory lasts long enough to record it somewhere! It is so incredibly important to me that my kids know how much they were loved and wanted.
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