No Curtain Necessary

We abruptly woke to the sounds of an impeding storm working its way up Lake Chelan. Rolling thunder, as I count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, cracks of lightening across the sky, sizzling snaps of light punctuating the darkness, and the soothing sound of drenching rain, mark the dawn of a new day. Thunderous storms delight me, and fill me with awe. When I was a child, I was afraid of this natural phenomenon, but I kept prodding myself to observe. It was one of those things I could not help but watch, even if I was just peaking through the curtains. As the years passed, if there was an electrical storm, I had to stop whatever I was doing, pay attention, and observe the power around me. No curtain necessary.

Years ago, we had a Husky dog by the name of Ivan. Ivan did not understand this stormy weather Mother Nature occurrence at all. He could feel a storm coming long before I did, and would start pacing and whining. If it was the middle of the night, he woke me before the storm did. I would roust myself from my sleep and sit with him⎯arms wrapped tightly around his robust chest. As I opened the curtains to observe the lightshow around us, I soothed him by gently rocking, and softly humming in his ears. Before the thunder rolled, Ivan would tense and allow his fear to take over his entire being.

Our dear Ivan never got used to these storms that rolled through his life from time to time. I wasn’t able to explain to him what was happening, or tell him how to peak through the curtains in order to learn to overcome his fears. Throughout my life, I have constantly forced myself to look, forced myself to peak through the curtains, forced myself to observe, and this has taught me to not let fear take over my entire being. I now allow the storms of my life to roll over me, if not through me. After all, it is what it is, storms happen. I will gladly step out into the storm, if necessary, in order to get through to the other side of it. Because, as I have observed, there is and always will be another side, and there might just be a rainbow.

Top photo Lightening over Adelaide courtesy of Ersu

Bottom photo rainbow with lightening courtesy of thinboyfatter