Oklahoma Storms

I'm home for the week. Part 10 year High School Reunion and part relaxing post-bar trip to my parents'. It's been a good week. Though, incredibly hot. Seriously. Very, very hot.

My parents, and the rest of the mid-west, have been suffering through a summer of 100+ degree days. This area hasn't seen a temperature under 90, not even at night, since June. From my comfy, cozy, 80 degree Maryland, I could merely look to the mid-west and feel bad for them. When I landed in Oklahoma last week, I could sympathize with their pain about the heat. But, after spending some time with my parents, I've realized that this heat has had a dramatic effect on their moods. The heat has been so bad and it's been going on for so long that now they just seem defeated. They have given up. People don't leave their homes. People don't see each other. People don't garden, or mow their lawns, or water the plants. Outdoor festivals are out. Going to the pool is a chore. Even getting in your car to go to dinner seems draining. In other words, the heat has kept Oklahomans from enjoying summer. It is so darn hot that everyone is just sitting at home, praying for rain that will break the heat.

Well, I don't know if I brought it with me, but while I've been here, the rain has come. It started this morning when I woke up and continued on and off throughout the morning. And, tonight, I drove through the most awe inspiring thunder storm. I was in Tulsa and was heading home. The sky was clear and calm and, for a change, cool. Then, about ten minutes into my drive, I started to notice great bolts of lightning in the distance. They were lighting up the clouds. I didn't hear any thunder and there was no rain, so I felt okay. Then, about ten minutes later, the rain started falling in sheets. And the lightning was so close I saw it hit on both sides of the highway. It was so close and the flash so bright that I was momentarily blinded by it. Fortunately the wind wasn't strong so I didn't feel unsafe driving. I slowed the car down so I could see through the rain, and then just tried to move out of the storm. It was seriously the most amazing and close lightning I've seen in along time.

Once I was out of the storm and had time to think, I realized how moved by the storm I was. How much I miss things like that in Maryland. The earth and sky are alive here and the people are an element of both. They move with the earth, suffer its pain and relish in its joy. They fear and respect the power of nature and don't for a minute think they are above it. When the Oklahoma sky is not full of storms and threatening lightning, when it is blue and stretches seamlessly from one horizon to the next, you can stand under it, look up, and realize how small you are. For a moment you are worried that you are too insignificant to matter. But then a slow spark starts in your gut. Because you realize you are just happy to be a part of it at all.