On Sunday, the girls and I spent some time on a blanket, in the grass, with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful day, with amazing blue skies. The only person who happened to take a picture of the sky was Alison, lucky for you, so you can see it in all its splendor.
OK, so I spent a good portion of the day blowing my nose. Because suddenly, being outside makes me sneeze and get the red eyes like I’ve been off smokin’ something behind the garage. But still, not a cloud in sight, gorgeous day, fun in the sun. I mean the shade, on account of our fair, fair skin and aversion to skin cancer. And wrinkles. Can you tell I’m in my 30’s now?
As we packed up to go, we noticed an ominous sound off in the distance. A neighbor kid and his boomin’ bass? Not a chance. To the West, the sky was still that clear blue. But coming from the East, and fast, was darkness, wind, thunder and lightning.
Where I come from (if living in Nebraska for a few years as a kid counts as being from somewhere), when the sky looks like that, it is tornado weather. So we beat it home, and came to a screeching halt at the front door. Of course I paused to take a photo from the driveway, like any responsible adult. While I unloaded the kids lickity-split, the wind got stronger, even rocking the car. My inner voice was shouting, “Y’ouns get down the basement now, ya hear?” but, having no cellar nor a mid western accent (alas, I say “I’m tired” not “I’m tard” like my Granny), I kept quiet, shut off the electronics and closed the windows.
Jeremy, on the other hand, thought it would be prudent to run drive quickly over to our 5-acre parcel down the road where he had just recently finished stacking some hay, and try to cover it with a tarp before the rain came. Being an excellent wife, I gave him a brief run-down on the proper technique for avoiding being hit by lightning before I let him leave. (In case you were wondering – tuck position, touching as little of the ground as possible). Fortunately he is the most patient man on earth and didn’t slap me or roll his eyes. Not while I was standing there, anyway.
Before too long, the wind was howling, the rain was coming down in buckets, the lightning and thunder were on top of each other over head and then… the storm was gone. It lasted all of 15 minutes, which is about how long it took Jeremy to get the hay covered. By the time he made it back home, the sky was crystal clear in all directions, and Alison was playing hopscotch on the porch.
