After the Storm

How many nights as you lay in bed and listen to the thunder rumble in the distance do you think about your childhood?  I always remember the stormy nights, the windows open, the sounds of the rain pounding against the slate siding and wooden front porch.  The thunder was always so loud and there was always, always a train whistle somewhere in the background.  Growing up we didn't have air conditioning so whatever nature decided to send your way was your lull-a-bye for the night.  I don't remember being afraid too often and more times than not I slept soundly though most storms.  Sometimes I would watch out of the bedroom window at the beautiful light show as lightning streaked across the sky over and over.  It was better than 4th of July fireworks.  It was exciting and beautiful!  

Last night I went to bed with the thunder rumbling in the distance and I felt comforted.  I woke sometime later with Gary saying the electricity was out.  The wind was blowing hard, the rain was beating against our bedroom window and I smiled remembering my childhood.  I knew it wouldn't last long but just for a small glimpse of time I remembered a small child and her imagination.  Yes, it's inconvenient ... thank goodness for cell phones and their alarms  

Today, the storm is gone.  The sky is so very blue.  The trees ... the grass, the plants ... all so green.  The flowers so colorful with their reds, yellows, pinks, oranges and blues.  The birds so thrilled to sing, are singing louder and longer.  After the storm, everything is brighter, more colorful ... prettier ... or maybe we just appreciate it more.

I look at my world around me, my sun room, my backyard, my flowers, my greenbelt, the birds, Mr Owl, the squirrels that play in the backyard, the buzzing insects ... as long as I am here I can pretty much be in a controlled environment.  I don't have to face what is happening outside this world, but I have to step outside this world, I have to face what has happened this past 18 months and continues to happen.  I have to continue to be appalled at how people treat each other, how they talk to each other.  

I have always thought we lived in the greatest nation in the world and now I realize that the politicians that we have put into office, the ones we voted for, aren't there  to make our country better, aren't there to help our citizens but instead are there for their own greed or to fulfill their own agenda. They really do not care about us.  This is such a sad day for America.  Our children that have given their lives, died in vain.  They gave up their hopes, their dreams and their lives for an America that these men are destroying piece by piece.  Mothers and Fathers gave up their children so that these men could destroy America.  It is time that we make their lives count, that we make their lives matter.  We need to make America about freedom, peace, forgiveness, and all she used to stand for once again.  We need to get rid of the evil and hatred and the greed in the White House and replace it with what America needs.