Thunderstorms, I used to like them

Thunderstorms have always facinated me. I love the smell of the rain, the flash of the lightening and counting down the seconds until the thunder sounds. I used to think that one second meant the storm was one kilometer away, but someone later told me it was 3 seconds for 1 km. Who knows, but it's fun to count anyway. I remember thinking as a kid that thunderstorms meant that God was mad at the clouds and he was cutting them in half with a lightening rod. Then the clouds would bang back together. I always wondered what made God that mad and I sure hoped I never did anything to make Him that mad at me!

I'm not sure if I was afraid of thunderstorms as a kid. I would guess that I was, it seems to be the kid thing to do. As a parent, I have discovered that thunderstorms are not nearly as entertaining to me when I am woken from a deep sleep by a paniced 3 1/2 year old at 3am. Yes, Nicole is terribly afraid of thunderstorms. She came stumbling into our room, clearly shaken and scared. I didn't even know there was a storm going on. I am a deep sleeper, especially since having kids. I think my body has learned to take any sleep it can and make the most of it. So being woken up like this panics me. My first thought was that someone had broken into the house and was chasing Nicole (because I'm sure that's what people who break into houses want to do, chase 3 year olds around). Mark quickly told me that there was a thunderstorm in his own special way. "Duh, what do you think all the flashing lights and loud noises are?" He obviously wakes up easier than I do. So anyway, we haul Nicole up into our bed to wait out the storm. We try to sleep, but there is no way Nicole is going to sleep through all the racket, and if Nicole isn't sleeping, no one in the bed is sleeping either. The storm finally slowed down around 4am. By this point Nicole is pretty comfy in our bed and has no intention of going back to her bed. We have a brief discussion about her going back and she starts to threaten us with the I'm going to scream so loud and wake up Julia voice. So, the good parents we are, we give in and she gets to stay in our bed. But of course a queen size bed is not big enough for 2 grown people and 1 little person. In fact, that little person could stand to have a queen size bed to herself the way she sleeps. So off Mark goes to sleep in Nicole's bed. I move Nicole over to Mark's side and pray that she stays on that side of the bed so I might get to sleep a bit before the alarm goes off. She didn't stay on her side, but I did get some sleep, with a little, warm body snuggled behind me. :D