Thunder's Fury

Ah, weather. It can be gentle like some docile lamb. Such as breezy, warm, seventy-degree, Spring sunshine. Or, quite the opposite. It can also produce an untamed storm, bringing about gloomy, ebony skies.... Plus thunder and lightning!! I love our weather around here!! Because, seriously. Our weather is somewhat irrational, indecisive, and rebellious!! It can swiftly change from sunshine to pouring rain.... Within a few short hours!! Our weather makes Mother Nature look bi-polar, or something!! It is highly unpredictable!! Highly unpredictable.... Last week, around five AM, I was awoken abruptly by this hard impact against my wooden bed frame. A distinctive THUD, one that, in spite of any groggy mental weariness which I'd felt at the moment, I knew its culprit. Rose. A noise phobic Rose. Something frightened her. But what? A soft rainfall tapping against our window scares Rose!! Still groggy, I rolled over onto my back, and dangled an arm. My right hand reached contact with Rose. Tremors were powerfully working their way through her body. Poor baby.... What had terrified her? It did not require long for our weather to answer this query. In the sleeping darkened bedroom, my eyes witnessed this single illuminating flash of light. I gasped. Lightning!! I then pulled myself out of bed, still tired, and sat on the hard, carpeted floor next to Rose. Her colossal brown eyes grew even larger, as she awaited its following thunder. I listened, too. And, as though keeping some promise, thunder arrived!! KA-BOOM!! And, it was dangerously nearby us. Dangerously nearby us. It was above our house!! Lightning would flash against my closet door mirrors, its reflection on the windows. And, then, thunder rumbled!! Shaking our walls!! Literally. It felt as though we were in Roswell, New Mexico, where, if memory serves me right, I once watched these bolts of lightning, stretched out like veins within somebody's arm, actually touch Earth!! Which was awesome!! I love thunderstorms.... And feel weirdly mesmerized by lightning!! Weirdly mesmerized. However, last week, I never felt so unsafe, or so vulnerable during a thunder and lightning storm!! Never. It was eerie!! Thunder rolled above us as though some high-speed train were driving past our house!! My sister's collection of blue dishes, which hang securely on the walls, rattled. No exaggeration!! I sat beside Rose, stroking her velvet-soft fur, feeling the vibration of my little girl's trembling body, and waited our storm out. Patiently. Around 6:30 AM, our skies were silent. At last!! Confident that the thunderstorm was over, I stood up. Rose shot me a quizzical expression which basically said: Mama!! Where are you going? Mama!! No!! Don't leave me!! Then, as though she were crawling out of some safe shelter, Rose slowly followed my footsteps. I logged onto our computer and finished typing last week's Blog post. Sure that the storm was still raging, my poor mutt suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-like symptoms all morning. But, she is resilient....