(are you a World War II buff? if so, you got the reference.)
We had plenty of weird, wet weather yesterday.
It was a good day to build forts and hole up inside, except when the thunder rolled and the 3-year-old shrieked.
Really shrieked.
As in, run-through-the-house-with-a-terrified-look kind of shriek.
I explained to him that it was just thunder. As in, “It’s okay, honey. That’s just thunder.” But it didn’t work; he needed more.
And so I improvised. “You know those big clouds that are up in the sky?”
“Yes,” came the answer. It was a little voice.
“Well, sometimes those big clouds run into each other. When they do, one of them says,” (and here I dropped my voice about a dozen octaves) ” ‘PARDON ME.’ And then the other one says,” (I went even lower than seems womanly possible), ” ‘PARDON ME.’ ”
The 3-year-old giggled.
It was okay.
And it remained okay the rest of the day…throughout a haircut (we went during a lull in that weird, wet weather) and more thunderstorms and a crazy, pink-colored late evening sky.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the 3-year-old who ended up nervous at all. It was the 7-year-old who looked at that weird, pink sky and asked, “Do tornadoes sometimes come in the night?”
“Yes, Honey,” I told her. I told her the truth. “Yes, they do.”
“Are you in a state of grace?” I continued. She nodded, still looking plenty solemn. “Then you have nothing to fear.” I asked her to bring me my Bible and together we read from the Gospel of Matthew: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
It’s an age of reason thing.
It’s moving beyond those clouds that talk…to a faith that sustains us when life gets hard.
Beautiful post, and fabulous picture, that last one. Have a blessed feast day!
Oh, my gosh, his hair cut is adorable!!! (give him extra kisses from me!) I love little boy haircuts…and big boy haircuts too I guess.
We had our last day of outside VBS yesterday!! Rain and all…we survived.
I have endured gale force winds, lightening to ground strikes, sirens blaring, all while stuck in a camper with my precious children…during the night…I HATE storms.
Even after a good confession and prayers said and rosaries prayed…I still cannot stand camping and storms. I need something a little more powerful…a good glass of wine!
cute haircut
he has the best eyes evah.
Our kids are starting love tornado weather, because it means a slumber party in mom and dad's room! (Our room is almost entirely underground, concrete walls and all that, so it's just about as safe as we can get, and pretty comfortable, too!)
I love the way you handled that grown up question, though, with a perfect, grown up answer. 🙂
When my 2 kids were little we were all camping with my in laws . The kids were a bit scared and my MIL told them that the thunder were "angels bowling". ;).
Green sky usually signals tornado conditions. 😉
I love thunderstorms. But, it's an acquired taste.
That rain looks absolutely wonderful! We need some desperately over here in the Windy City area. God Bless
LOL, my daughters were in Minnesota this past week (from Oklahoma) for Catholic Heart Work Camp. Mid week it started to rain and my Okie daughter looked up at the sky, which was green, and said something along the lines of "we need to go check the weather this doesn't look good" they all thought she was silly it was fine, it's just a light rain. She said "ummm, yeah skies don't turn green for nothing" A few minutes later there was a hail storm (small, but still). She looked at em and said "We grow up on weather, it's a part of our daily lives! We're all trained in what "normal" looks like and what "dangerous" looks like. It was quite funny. We love love love thunderstorms (we're weird.)
Kara Allen
I always heard, "red sky at night, a sailor's delight," meaning calm seas for the next day. I love your explanation of thunder!