Thunderstorm

I don't really care too much for thunderstorms unless they are about to kill me. I am a 39 year old guy with a college degree and enough common sense to run for cover when there is a thunderstorm. Its a manageable threat, I would say under most circumstances. But when you are woken up in the middle of the night from a deep sleep by some disturbance and you are still trying to find out what disturbed you out of your sleep. In the meantime, while your senses are only half alert and you are still in this sleepy confused state, turning in your bed begging for the annoyance to go away and trying to get back to sleep, the next thing you hear is a loud bang... BAAAM! Now that's scary and I will admit I was scared.

"That thunderstorm was close. That could have killed me.", I was thinking as I was standing at the top floor bedroom window of my 2 storey townhouse and staring down at the familiar gnome in my neighbors yard across the street as its face disappeared and reappeared with every flash of the lightning. Those thunderstorms struck very near to my house and it was powerful enough to be fatal.

Fifteen minutes ago I was sleeping and I was woken up from my sleep by the noise of thunder coming through my open windows. I resisted getting out of the bed a few times. I don't exactly remember how many times or how many minutes I was lying there in my bed unwilling to wake up or get up but begging to just go back to sleep. I was hoping that the loud annoyance would just go away. But this thunderstorm was persistent and it must have lasted more than 10 minutes. I know that it takes more than a gentle shake to wake me up from my deep sleep. There has been atleast one episode in the past when my neighbors had to break in to my house to let in my locked out roommates while I was sleeping inside the house oblivious to the sound of hours of knocking on the door. I sleep sometimes like I am knocked out by the correct dose of chloroform. You could cut me open surgically while I am asleep and I wouldn't even wince. Yeah, let me save you some chloroform you organ thief.

I was never afraid of spiders or thunder. Wait I may be afraid of spiders a little bit. Especially, after watching an episode of Congo on PBS a couple of days ago. Thunderstorms never scared me until last night. I have a lot of respect for the power of nature though. I have experienced the flow of a full river. There is a constant din in the air as if you are close to a waterfall. The river courses through the landscape, taking pieces of the banks and leaving some from a distant upriver land in its bed only to drain it into the ocean in the distant future. It moves with the power of an army of elephants moving forward at a steady pace. A human caught in the currents of that full river reminds me of tiny fire ants caught in the swirling currents of a flash stream created by a sudden summer downpour. I have fear and respect for that kind of power of nature. I am the last one to admit that I was scared by that thunder last night. I don't even remember being afraid of thunderstorms as a child. I confess that I am afraid of heights though.

I had to wake up from my sleep, walk to the window to close them, check the time, 3:16 AM and go back to sleep.

Morning comes and I am not woken up by the sound of the chirping birds because the windows are closed. I am woken up by responsibility instead and I get ready for work and I walk to the bus stop. The road is wet, fallen leaves, broken branches everywhere. It must have been a powerful thunderstorm. Minnesota summer brings with it a lot of thunderstorms and this one scared me.

I am now afraid of spiders, rivers, heights and thunderstorms.