It may not have been the sleep of the innocent last night but I had been very much out of it, dead to the world as they say. I kept hearing “Dad, dad . . . DAD!” It finally pulled me out of a deep R.E.M. coma. A light from the hallway silhouetted my son’s head poking through the door. Usually he’d be telling me he’s home or asking for money to go out.

“It’s really bad outside. I think we’re in trouble.”

My alarm clock was blinking 1:30. I got up and turned on the tube to see a brightly colored weather map with a whole lot of red right where we were. It was howling outside. The rain was being blown sideways and made a stinging sound as it hit the windows and siding.

I looked outside and was reminded of the hurricane scene in Key Largo (I love Boggie and Bacall) where the palm trees were bowing over. It’s easy to see why they make movies about storms. You have the tension between a man and a woman, between them and mobsters and between the storm and everyone. A story within a story within a story. Everyone is equally vulnerable.

The t.v. weatherman kept talking to a reporter that was apparently just driving around the city looking for anything worthy of reporting. Power outages, trees down, roofs or signs blown off of businesses anything at all would do. It wasn’t long before the hail started. Little frozen peas of ice coming down in great waves with the rain to ping against the windows, roof and my son’s truck sitting in the driveway. There still weren’t any tornado sirens but I was starting to wonder if we shouldn’t just play it safe and go down to the basement anyway.

I’d just found some flashlights to use should the power go out, when it started to let up. The wind was still blowing and the rain kept falling but it wasn’t blowing sideways. It was less now and a little quieter. Just like that - the storm came in, did its damage and moved on.

Kind of like depression. You open your door one day and there it sits looking at you. It has that sweet tilted head look that says, “C’mon, let me in. I’ll be good.” The next thing you know its managed to slide the screen door open and bolt in, running through your life, muddy paws and all. You hope it doesn’t stay too long or do too much damage.

With a little luck and some hard work adjusting your lifestyle it will move on. There may be some stinging rain and hail with a few downed trees, but eventually it will pass. It will. Remember that.

The photos here were taken on my way to work. The downed trees are all Bradford Pears which are known to be very soft wooded and brittle in strong winds. The flowers are on my Sargent Crabtree. It’s a small decorative tree with unbelievably fragrant blossoms that made it through the storm.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized.