Random Ramblings

I have to admit that despite all the rain we have been having lately in my area, I really do like a good thunderstorm.  Of course I prefer to be in a building watching it through a window so that I feel relatively safe!  But really how fun is it to watch the sky when Mother Nature is at her best, or we might say worst??  Is it not the most amazing light show to watch when lightning is zipping across the sky?  Sometimes it can be very soothing to watch the sky during a good storm, the way the clouds are moving, the direction of the rain or the brightness of the lightning, it just is completely dumbfounding. 

I remember when I was a little girl and I was very scared of thunderstorms.  They were not fun during the day and even worse at night when I was in my room on my own.  I remember my parents trying to calm me down, because I was crying I was so scared.  Nothing much helped until the storm died down enough for me to fall asleep.  After many sleepless nights, or nights in my parents  bed, they bought me a book that explained thunderstorms, the condensed version was as follows; Up in the sky there was a family of clouds, Momma Cloud, Daddy Cloud and of course Baby Cloud.  Baby Cloud liked to go exploring a lot and would sometimes get lost.  This made Momma Cloud cry, hence the rain.  The thunder came when Daddy Cloud and all the other clouds would go looking for him and bumped into each other.  The lightning was explained as the clouds flashlights.  Once they found Baby Cloud the lightning, thunder and rain stopped.  Needless to say, this explanation made storms a lot easier to deal with, I’d even talk my dad into taking me outside so I could yell to Baby Cloud to go home!

Some of my favorite memories of thunderstorms were in grade school, when it would get really dark outside and the lights were really bright inside, almost like it was night time.  Everyone was more focused on the sound and light show going on outside than the work we were supposed to be doing.  The teacher always had a hard time getting most of us to focus back on the task at hand, but eventually we’d be focused and almost have forgotten about the storm until the REALLY LOUD clap of thunder and the REALLY BRIGHT bolt of lightning!  Some of the girls would scream, most of us just jumped a little and again focus was lost.  I miss being able to watch thunderstorms these days.  My office is on the inside of the building and I can’t see or hear what is going on outside.  There are days when unless someone tells me, I have no idea what it is doing outside, snowing, hailing, or raining! 

Now as an adult I still love thunderstorms, I just don’t like them when they wake me out of a sound sleep!  I am putting out a challenge to all of you out in cyberspace!  The next time it is storming, and it has to be a good one, not just rain (that’s no fun) watch the sky for at least 10 minutes or so and see what kind of effect it has on you!  It could inspire you like it has me, to write a post here, it could inspire someone to paint something, it could inspire a song, or a story, or a poem.  The possibilities are endless!  Go out and enjoy a true Thunderstorm, but be careful!