When I was six or seven there came a sudden and dramatic thundershower one hot summers day, lots of lightening, thunder, and torrential rain. I was caught outside in it. But I was not scared. I was filled with a sense of awe and wonderment.

Never before had I seen such things. The dark clouds swirled, billowing in great puffs like sooty cotton balls. Water rushed past me, gutters overflowed, leaves tumbled through the air like a flock of birds, lightening streaked across the sky like blood veins, wind whirled and time itself slowed as small trees bent and bowed their tips to the splendor of it all.

I took shelter next to back of our small house, beneath the soffit. I could have gone in at anytime but I found nothing to be shaken about. At no time did I feel threatened.

After the rain and wind died down, I stepped from the house and looked up at the sky as Gods sunny rays cut through the darkness. High in the sky I saw birds circling and even further up more birds. In the thick bushes near our house sparrows darted out and zoomed into the woods. Rabbits scampered from beneath my brother’s old car. The air smelled fresh and filled me as I inhaled deep.

I was soaked, but never noticed.

The back door opened and my mother stood perplexed and demanded I get in the house. I did as I was told and received a loving pat on the rear and a scolding for being out in the storm.

As I look back on this I ask myself, how many storms have I gone through? How many times have I witnessed the rain and thunder, overflowing gutters, and bent trees of not just natural storms but of life’s storms? I can honestly say I did not handle a lot of them well. I was enraged, saddened, perplexed, bewildered, hurt, and ravaged both physically and mentally.

Wisdom they say is life’s lessons learned through trail and error and not sheltered from the storm. Others may argue that wisdom knows when to come in from the storm. How does one know a storm unless ones been through it?

I know nothing of wisdom. I do know this I’ve been protected under nothing more than a soffit all of my life. After every storm the skies opened and in my mind new thoughts soared as the birds flew high in the clouds that day. New fresh feelings filled my heart as the fresh clean air had, and just like the animals and birds who were sheltered came out from hiding I must as well.

The little boy who once found storms fascinating still does. He still likes the thunder and rain, and wind. Life storms he can do without, especially now that he is supposedly older and wiser.