I was done posting today, but then it started to rain.  Lightning was streaking across the sky and thunder erupted behind the clouds.  It makes me think about how I used to be afraid of thunder and lightening and how your Grandfather cured me of the fear.  Would you like to know how he did it?  Read on, sweet sisters as you listen to the thunder meditation video attached:

Thunder and Lightning

by Prudence Scattergoode

Dedicated to my sweet sisters who are in high school, so they must be fearless.

But most especially to the Freshman – my sweet scribe, Bea.

I was probably about three years old, the night the thunder woke me.  It was so loud! My little ears hadn’t heard anything so booming.  My ears ached with pain and I started to cry.  I pulled the bed covers over my head hoping to muffle the sound.  But the sound didn’t go away.  It was less, it’s true – but still looming.  My crying continued until I heard a sound…

“Prudy…are you ok, sweetheart!” Daddy called out in the darkness. I couldn’t answer him.  My sobbing was uncontrollable.  He came into my darkened room and scooped me up out of my blankets.

“No, Daddy!  I’m scared!” I told him.  I took deep breaths between each new fit of tears. But he held me close and we walked out into the living room of our old home on Scott Street.  He turned on a lamp.  The light quivered and almost did not come back on.  Then he did the unthinkable – he walked with his arm outstretched to the front door.  My panic got more intense.  Why was he going out there?  I thought.  It’s worse out there!!!! But he turned the deadbolt and opened the door.  

We walked out onto our porch.  It had been snowing.  The white slush had lost it’s sparkle and just sat there waiting for the impending rain to wash it away to the gutters of our Pennsylvania town.  Just then…

CRACK!!!!!!!!!! Thunder peeled through the sky.  If that thunder had been a knife, it would have cut the sky in half.  

“Oh!”  I jumped.  Then I started to sob again.

“It’s OK, sweetheart.  Just listen to the thunder.  Once you get used to it, it won’t scare you so much,” he said.  I didn’t know what to do.  I held onto his neck and cried.

I cried for awhile.

Soon, I noticed I wasn’t crying anymore.

And then I noticed something else…I liked the sound of thunder.

It was like a drum that permeated my body.  I could feel the beat of the drum deep inside my chest.  And the loud cracks – startling as they still were – did not make me want to cry.  They were no longer frightening.  They were impressive.  It was like God was showing off how loud he could be.

I felt so safe and warm huddled into my father’s embrace.  His woolen shirt was scratchy and smelled of cigarettes.  His neck was strong and his voice was soothing.

“You see, Prudy…it’s like a light and sound show.  Look!”

I finally found the courage to look up at the sky.  Light danced across it like a firework that had strangled free from it’s streaming.

“Wow!” I said.

“And you would have missed it if you’d stayed under those covers.  Sometimes, you gotta be brave and face the thunder and lightning,” he explained.  As young as I was, I knew he was right.  He was so wise.  I loved Daddy. I hugged him closer.

Before long, Daddy turned toward our living room. He closed the entry door. He put me back under my bed covers and kissed me good night – the way he always did…

“Good night, sleep tight, pleasant dreams, I love you.” He pulled the blankets up past my ears so I was tucked in good and tight.

Then he walked away in the darkness.

I fell asleep listening to the rain hitting the roof.  It sounded like the raindrops were dancing in a wonderful cosmic ballet.  I imagined the lightning streaking in between the droplets.  How magical it all had become.

And I was never afraid of thunder or lightening again. 🙂