Yesterday was a little crazy.
On my home from writers group, it poured rain. Poured. I prayed that the kids remembered to shut the windows…though I had a bad feeling that they would forget a couple.
Then the lovely buzzery-beeps sounded from the radio speakers… tornado warning. They named towns. Towns close to my town.
Oh my.
And my kids are home alone…I mean they’re 14 and 15, so they’re not incapable of handling things, but I knew my daughter would be freaking out.
So I drove through the downpour. I listened to the warnings sound over and over…
Seek shelter…
Get to a basement…
If you are driving…
WELL YES I AM DRIVING AND NO I AM NOT PULLING OVER I AM GOING HOME!
My phone rang out its creepy ringtone numerous times…
YES, DEAR HUBS, I KNOW ABOUT THE WEATHER BUT I AM DRIVING AND CAN’T TALK NOW!
I kept an eye on the sky.
I am scared of tornados. Having a funnel cloud descend on my house is one of my big fear. As soon as high winds kick up, I’m a nervous mess.
I got home and ran inside. The alerts went off on the phones. Hubs called again. The kids were on edge. I closed all the windows they forgot. The dog was a hyper goober. The power went out…came back on…flickered, then died for good.
I kept my eye on the sky.
A dark cloud came into view. A low cloud. A possibly rotating cloud?
OMG WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!!
Well…yes, Twister gifs…
My son and I ran to the back door and stared as this humongous cloud moved across the field behind our house.
A chair blew off the deck. My daughter started to cry and ran to the living room where she sat on the floor. My son grabbed the dog, just in case we needed to drag him somewhere with us. We have a basement, not that the dog would go down there…there are stairs, he doesn’t do stairs. Where were all the cats? Should we go to the basement…the old musty 100 year old basement? Ugh.
But no. I stayed at the door, watching. Running to the basement or huddling in the bathroom, our next safest place, meant I couldn’t see the swirling cloud. If I watched it, I knew where it was…where it was going. Hiding meant, WELL HIDING MEANT WHO KNOWS??!?!?
We watched it move away. We wondered if it caused any destruction. We wondered if everyone out there in the path of the storm was okay.
I stood in awe of the power of Mother Nature.
I remembered how small we are in the vastness of everything, but I also thanked the greater-power-that-is for my life, for my family, for my home, for my talents. As one tiny person in this grand universe, I have a purpose, a place. We all do. Even with a reminder of how insignificant I am, how finite, I claim my power, my magic to make my life what I want it to be.
As Mother Nature twirled by to say hello yesterday, I waved. The fear I thought would surface appeared as wonder, as a cautious fascination. Though I was ready to run and hide, I didn’t want to. I wanted to face it. See it. Experience it.
Though any closer and I would have huddled in the dark somewhere.
Today I am setting out to claim a bit of my little life. To make some magic. To be me. To celebrate what it is to be here…alive.
Thanks, Mother Nature for the reminder.
