Thunderbolts and lightning

One of my earliest childhood memories is of a GIANT thunderstorm.

We stood in the doorframe of our back door, and watched the absolutely torrential rain pouring down, causing instant lakes on the paved areas outside and brilliantly lit by continual jagged flashes of lightning, accompanied almost instantly by ear shatteringly loud booms of thunder.

I know some people really don’t like thunderstorms, and I’m definitely NOT one of them. There is something absolutely thrilling about the noise, the rain, the light – as if the world is being cleansed and renewed.

I always remember the time in 2004 that there was a thunderstorm whilst it was snowing too, and the eerie light cast by the thick fat white flakes as they plunged to the ground, lit sporadically by the lightning.

So it did come as a little bit of a surprise when a tiny child came wriggling into our bed last night, woken by the thunderstorm raging outside and obviously a bit on the worried side.

I’d kind of forgotten that if you’ve never really experienced it before, a thunderstorm could seem entirely overwhelming.

I explained to her what was happening, and – although I’m not sure how much an almost-two year old would actually understand about the thunderstorm process – once we’d talked about it, she was much happier.

Then we sat, and watched, and enjoyed the show together.

And now the world is cleansed again!

(well, our little part of it at least, anyway…)