Thunder and Lightening

Yesterday we got lots of thunder and lightening. Just about time for me and Courage to take our daily walk/jog, the rumbling started, it grew dark and lightening lit up the sky. Needless to say, we tucked our tails and went back to the house. I am not afraid of storms, but I'm not stupid either. I just heard a newscaster say yesterday, "if you are close enough to hear the thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightening". I will take his word for it.

Growing up, my Mama took perverse pleasure in a mid-day, summer thunderstorm. At the first rumble, she herded me and my two younger brothers to the central bedroom, the one with no windows, and piled us all in bed. She told us we needed to get quiet. She told us no, the dog cannot get into the bed and no, the cats cannot get into the bed; for they 'draw' lightening. You cannot hang your head, arms or legs off the bed either. That 'draws' lightening also. So you know what happened, we were in a dark room, we had to be still and quiet, we were bored. We three kids fell asleep, of course, and she had an hour or so to herself. So what if it was storming.

I think my Papa Knight loved thunder storms for his own reasons. When a storm brewed, he parked himself on the porch in the swing. He just sat and watched the lightening all around him. I think it was his way of communing with nature. Oh! How I wanted to sit out there with him, but my Granny had pretty much the same idea as my Mama. She didn't always make us take a nap, but we had to stay inside, away from windows, and be quiet.

The worst thunder and lightening storm I can remember being in was in a little boat out in the middle of Lake Lanier. A friend took me out on his little speed boat out on the lake and we were having a grand ole' time until it started storming. He said it was safer to shut the boat off and wait out the storm rather than to drive back to the dock in the rain, so that's what we did. The boat had a small top that you could pull closed and we sat huddled under that and were tossed around and got quite wet. It reminded me of the opening scenes of 'Gilligan's Island'. Honestly, I was way scared and my friend's attempts to be romantic failed because I screamed every time the thunder clapped and the lightening streaked.

I am looking out the window now, and it's getting really dark and the trees are bending back and forth in a flutter of leaves. I think we are having a repeat performance of last night's storm. You know, I think I'll go to my room, shoo the cat out and lay on the bed. (Yawn)