Thunderstorms and Rain

It's 12:50 a.m. I know, I shouldn't be up but I am. And I'm kind of thankful I stayed up. Okay, I'll admit that the original reason why I'm up so late is because I'm watching the Rockies game which I recorded. While watching the game, I saw quite a bit of lightening and before I knew it, it was raining (hard) and hail was shooting down as if it were trying to pierce the earth all the way to China. One of my favorite things is to watch Thunderstorms. I love it when the thunder gets really loud. I think it's really cool. I'm always amazed at the diversity of God's creation. Sometimes I wonder why He made lightening and Thunder and hail, etc. Who would think to include that in the overall creation picture? Yes, only God.

Anyway, I turn off the lights so I can watch the lightening and see the rain and hail despite it being dark outside. I sit and watch and admire and reminisce ... growing up in Bakersfield, we'd have "storms" every now and then. Not even close in frequency or quality that we do here in the Springs. My Dad also loves those storms. We'd sometimes go outside under the patio cover and admire the display of power. Back when I was growing up, I had to admire it mostly by what I saw. Occasionally it would thunder loud enough for me to feel it and I would look at my Dad with my mouth wide open, "WOW!" He'd smile at me. If I was unfortunate to miss the storm because I was sleeping, I'd wake up and see the wet ground and know I'd missed something special. It was always sort of weird to wake up and see that. In the same way one wakes up to 6 inches of snow that fell after bedtime. It's quiet. You don't hear it. Where did that come from? Well, I don't hear anything when I'm sleeping. (I'm thankful for that though.) However, now with my implants, I'm able to hear even "gentle" storms and I LOVE them! Another blessing...

Fast forward a few years... I remember my kids coming into my room and waking me up, "MOM! MOM! I'm scared!" When I asked them why they'd sign with their cute little hands, "THUNDER!" Their eyes would be wide open to emphasize the loudness of the storm. They live in a different world than I do. I never came into my parents room unless the lightening was so bright it would spook me. We'd let them get in bed with us and snuggle up until either it quieted down or we fell asleep, unable to wait it out. Fast forward a few more years to tonight... as I sit by the window watching the hail and lightening show, I remember them coming into our room scared. They don't do that anymore. I smile and think to myself, I miss that. I'm sure in the morning some (if not all of them) will be talking about that loud storm during the night. "Mom, you missed a good one last night!" Guess I'm going to have to tell them the truth, "Umm, no... actually your crazy Mom was still up watching the Rockies clobber the Diamondbacks when the storm started."