The storms have my dog freaking out, but her
geriatric legs won’t let her jump up on the footstool and into the bed where
her “safe” spot resides. She still thinks she has to disturb my sleep, and I
pet her until she becomes a little calmer. I put the blanket on the floor by my
bed and after she shaped it into a ball, she sauntered into the bathroom where
she usually sleeps. As soon as I dozed off, she was back. By then it was five
a.m., so I got up and fixed coffee. With me wide awake, she slept until nine.
We’ve had freakish weather including hail, wind, flash
floods, and the occasional tornado warning. The last tornado warning was in
“northeastern” Pettis County, which is pretty vague. Of course, all my local
stations were off the air due to weather. If the tornado had been in Kansas or
Northern Missouri, the stations would have preempted all the programming to
cover the storms for hours.
Since I didn’t have Mom to tell me exactly where
the storm was, I looked out the windows to see pouring rain, but no ominous
clouds. I didn’t bother to go to the basement. Later I saw a picture of a wall
cloud taken on the road to the west of my house. The storm went on to cause
damage in a town north of Pettis County. The threat didn’t materialize here and
for that I am thankful.
After being around Jim, I respect storms, but I’m
not afraid of them. Jim told me once that after Vietnam, he sure wasn’t afraid
of any storm. He might send the rest of us to the cellar, but he would be
standing outside watching for a funnel cloud.
The storms haven’t been only outside, there’s been
plenty of rain in my heart. The past year and a half has been an unrelenting
cascade of thunderbolts to my soul. Sometimes it’s hard to believe things can’t
be much worse, and then it is.
I’ve
survived being widowed twice, the loss of close family, deaths of good friends,
and other crushing, sorrowful events. Then, I realized that it was much better
to focus on what I have rather than what I have not. I have vivid dreams with
adventures centered around the people I have loved. They sometimes seem just a
breath away. In the stillness, I can hear the echoes of people who have been
gone for years or who recently left this world of ours.
When the storms pass and the sun comes shining
through, I feel my spirits lift. I haven’t lost my ability to laugh.
As the years, pass, I am getting stronger. I can’t
think of a single person that I have loved who would want me to die with him or
her. They would expect me to go on living and not merely exist. I am thankful
that each of them shared good times with me and helped me through the difficult
times.
More storms are predicted in the coming days. My
weather app says “grab an umbrella.” During a tornado warning, the
meteorologist tells us to go to our “safe place.” On the other end of the
spectrum, we have already had a few “heat” advisories.
On hot, sultry days, we play it cool. During
stormy weather, we weather the storms.
Copyright © June 2026 by L. S. Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
#ENDALZ
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