First of all let me tell you that I have always been and will probably always be petrified of thunder and lightning storms. While I love the look of lightning in pictures there is just something about being in the middle of the storm that scares me.
That being said let me tell you how great an actress I must have been last night.
I started reading Alicia White's His Mating Mark yesterday and couldn't go to sleep until I finished it. By the time I finished it was about 12:30 am. I put my kindle away knowing I needed to be up at 5 to go to work.
I know more than rolled over and got comfy when I heard thunder in the distance. Over the next few minutes it got louder until the house started shaking from the loudness. I knew it was going to be right on top of us soon. Checking the weather report quickly on my phone I see a weather alert.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING!!
Cloud to ground lightning, an inch of rain in less than an hour, high winds, and damaging hail.
GREAT!!!
Psyching myself up I say "I can do this. It's outside. Nothing can hurt me in the house. Everything will be fine." Few minutes later the rain starts. And by rain I mean sheets of water pouring down. Within seconds the rain turns to hail. I can hear the balls of ice hitting the roof.
Knowing the my daughter is also scared of the storms I decided I had to check on her as her and her slightly older brother (who can sleep through anything) were camping out in the living room. As I get ready to leave the bedroom to go check on her my husbands fire pager goes off reporting a house fire. My first thought of course was that that house got struck by the lightning so me being "Anal, anything bad that can happen WILL happen Mom" woke my teenager up and made him go downstairs with me so that we would all be in the same room if anything happened. He of course being a teenager though I was crazy and didn't want to get up. After telling him to get up or I was going to carry him down the stairs he got up and followed me.
We get to the bottom of the stairs. I have a very protective boxer who thinks he is vicious My horribly scary dog was curled up in the smallest ball he could in his crate with his head hidden under his blanket whining.
My daughter is also awake sitting up on the couch staring out the window. I sit with her and tell her it's just a storm while the entire time I'm also looking out the window wondering how bad it's going to get. Every time the sky would light up and the thunder would boom she would jump. I must say that I am very proud of myself. I wanted to hide in my bed with the covers over my head and earphone with loud music but because I hope my daughter will eventually grow out of her fear I stayed up with her until the storm passed. I must have been a pretty convincing actress because before long she was sound asleep again.
Finally at 2am I went to bed but laid awake unable to get my brain to shut off. Three hours later my alarm went off and I wanted to throw my phone across the room. Instead I got up and headed to work. Yay me!!
Due to a family emergency I ended up staying at work for only two hours but I'm still exhausted.
The strangest part about the whole night was the fact that I know if my daughter wasn't scared of the storm or the kids hadn't been home I would have been hiding in fear. It's amazing what you can do for you child. Even if it's as simple as not letting them see your fear so they can overcome theirs.
