It really is quiet after the storm.
That level of peaceful is rare at my house. The clock says 4:22 am, but under normal conditions that doesn’t guarantee silence. Because my husband often works nights, even 4:22 is accompanied by light from the hall and his steady voice rising and falling to the rhythm of dictation.
I don’t know what time the storms started tonight. It must have been after I fell asleep. The first storm wave rolled in with the first kid crawling into our bed.
Our oldest.
He entered under other “circumstances” likely to justify the need for mom and dad during the wind and rain.
Awhile later, the three of us were awakened by the storm’s main event. Wind and rain were magnified by lightening, thunder and hail.
My dad loves storms. I grew up predominantly in the Midwest which has spectacular lightening. As soon as the rain started, we would head out to the porch in hopes of lightening. It wasn’t the random ill-timed lightening of Texas storms, it would start with a few flashes a few seconds apart and build into wiry, jagged firework displays that would fill miles and miles of black, open sky accompanied by the smell of fresh and falling rain.
My kids don’t love storms. They have grown up in Texas where lightening isn’t celebrated, it is a precursor to thunder. The Midwest may specialize in lightening, but Texas knows how to execute thunder. It isn’t the occasional electric crash of Midwest storms, it is a freight train on a roller coaster track with locomotive parts flying off the uncontrollable motion. There is never not thunder in a big storm. There is a constant, persistent underlying rumble. The rising, billowing vibrations appear without warning shaking windows and causing children to scurry under warm covers to huddle in parental arms while listening to the thunder fall into constant, persistent underlying rumble.
The rain has collected in the creek running next to the house. I can see it occasionally with random flashes of light. A creek that was dry yesterday nearly choking the cattails into an early death, but now I suspect they have met a different fate. Their journey has ended downstream with tree limbs, unsecured trash and the occasional patio chair carried by spontaneous rapids. Rapids that create a temporary river that tames with the rising of the sun and evaporates in the Texas summer.
It is quiet now.
For a few more hours.
Until eyes open and little arms stretch and start the re-telling of last night’s storm.
I’m so glad you found me on Twitter. What a peaceful post you’ve written. It was lovely. Even tho I’m not a mommy and not from Dallas, I love everything about your websites. 🙂
We had a few in bed with us when the last storms came through. They just quietly appeared and went right to sleep. I really kinda of liked it! A special reason for special snuggles…
You may have restore my appreciation for storms. As long as there is no wind. I can’t handle the wind shaking my house.
Amen to the thunder in TX.
BTW – I will totally take that storm down here. It’s been months since rain. It’s all brown and crunchy down here 🙁
fabulously written
I love thunder… Having grown up between New Mexico and Phoenix I grew up to love a good summer thunderstorm and monsoon season… I’ve not lived anywhere where the outcome is even half as good… Envious of your night!
Our two-legged little people slept through the storm….it’s the four-legged variety that snuck under my covers. Oh…my poor landscape work!!! I mostly just have stems left…
I miss North Texas storms. In fact, I also miss rain. Stoms like that always knock the power out here, causing the back up batteries to beep, and it always happens during Tim’s shift.
That was a good read. Thanks for that, even at 4:22am. Hope you get some sleep tonight! 🙂
How poetic! This is a great post Holly! I never thought about the thunder being different elsewhere, or how it is constant here during a storm. I’ll listen with more attention the next storm we have. All of our kids ended up in our room too. All but the 3 yo slept on the floor, she couldn’t be talked out of my bed, even after the storms stopped. We were up more than we were asleep I think. For some reason the sirens went off around 3:45 here, after the major wind event, so I don’t know what that was about. I’m glad for the rain though.
Writing in the middle of the night suits you! 🙂
This is an awesome post… true to life words.
and it was a wicked {Texas} storm!
We too had 3 extra short people in our bed… though they are too little to claim other circumstances and just claimed that the ‘funder’ was gonna get them!
You made me feel like I was right there with you.