The Storm

Thunder bellowed loudly across the darken sky, rattling windows like fist beating against the panes. The sky had turned mid-night black, not a peep of light sneaking through. It was a fierce storm moving slowly against the earth's unprotected land, bringing fear and uncertainty with it.
I hovered on the couch with my dearest companions,  my cat Nickels and my dog Bessie hoping for some safe comfort for us all. A storm of unmeasurable size wielded it mightiest forces at us, daring anyone to stand against it.
Listening carefully to the weather report, I waited to see if I needed to move me and my companions down stairs, to a safer hiding place. The bright quick flash of the lightning rod sped across the sky once again. Another reminder of the vast power it held against all things.
Waiting, waiting and waiting as the moments slid by, hope that the giant trees in my backyard could bend far enough without snapping, slamming down to the earth. Almost without breathing, I watched the tall timbers sway against the mighty gust of wind, thinking that this would be the moment the crashing began. My poor animals, sitting as close to me as my own skin, were looking wide eyed and fearful of the storm that raged outside our door.
There had been a whole season of these storms coming at us in a moments notice. For all of the long hot summer months, we had endured flash flooding, and gusty winds that uprooted tree after tree.The dark brooding sky, filled with thick heavy clouds raining their huge tear drops down on us. It was as if heaven and earth waged a war with one another and humans were simply caught in the middle.
Mother nature, always unpredictable, rose up and once again showed her mighty power.There is no defense against these storms. All there is left, when they come marching in, is to gather up whatever defenses you have and ride out the worst of it. With a prayer on my lips and a readiness to move to a safer hiding place, I waited for the storm to pass, hoping that it would do as little damage as possible.
The loud snapping of the lighting zinged across the sky once again, the white brightness lighting up the entire room, as I continued to watch the weather channel. Slowly, the storm began to ease up, as the thunder continued to rumbled off in the distance.The rain had poured over the roof top and down across the yard forming a river.I had watched in fear and awe at the magnificent strength mother nature cultivated. She could be a fearsome beast with little defense available, yet one could not dismiss her power.
The hours passed slowly, bit by bit the storm moved on leaving the wreckage behind. Still the lightning could be seen across the night sky, a subtle reminder of who was really in charge. Finally, Nickels stood up, stretched himself as though he had only be napping then jumped down from the couch to find his food. Bessie continued to lay close not yet ready to trust that mother nature's fury had subsided. After and only after I was really sure that the storm had past I stood and walked to the back door to peek outside.
 All anyone can do is ride out that fury, pray and wait to view the damage.There was some structural repairs that would be required after this round of pounding rain and high gusty winds. More than that, we had survived. I had been spared, along with my two loving pets to live another day.
Eventually, the sun broke through the heavy clouds, the rains slowly began moving on towards another area. There had been more than one of these storms engulfing my community in the past several weeks. Each time I held my breath, fearing the worse. As usual mother nature and God decided to move on leaving most everything in tact.
With a little clean up required, replacement of some dirt and sweeping and raking away the tree branches and leaves, our lives were untouched. Every season rolls in and rolls out, leaving in its wake the trail of its own character.
The storm had bellowed through our little community, with thunder and lighting as though the gods of some ancient time still existed. In the after math, all that really remained was the memory of a storm well produced, and the unshakable knowledge that we are but small creatures in a vast universe living one day at a time, storm to storm, riding the lighting bolt to its end. -