I grew up in Oklahoma. Springtime in Oklahoma is one of my favorite times. The trees are gorgeous...flowers everywhere! But, it always came in second place to Autumn for one reason.
Tornadoes.
I hate them. You're having a perfectly beautiful day. Maybe a rain shower will pop up, and then out of nowhere, the sky turn green and the air goes still. Then it is anything but still. You have to run and find shelter. And just as quickly as it came, it's gone. Leaving you with whatever mess it left behind.
When I moved to Colorado, I was so pleased to not be dealing with tornadoes any more. At least, I THOUGHT we wouldn't get tornadoes here. In the 10 years we've lived here, we've only been in two semi-close call tornadoes. I've never had to take cover in a bathtub or duck and cover.
We had some wicked weather today. We woke up to very dark skies, and rain. But then a couple of hours later, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Max didn't want the windows open, so I didn't notice when the skies turned again. And if I hadn't been watching tv, I would not have known we were under a tornado warning.
I was immediately on edge. There I was, having a perfectly calm day, and then knots in my stomach...tension in my shoulders...a tornado was not on my list of things I wanted to deal with today!
Max was awake most of the night last night. He went to sleep fine, but at about midnight, he woke up with a seizure. Then again in the two o'clock hour. Then he stayed up until 4:30am. When he finally got himself asleep, and we got to sleep some.
With all the frenzy and talk of tornadoes today, it got me thinking about how seizures and tornadoes are so much alike. We'll have a perfectly good day. Max will play, and do new things, and be acting like he always does. Then out of nowhere, just as he gets to sleep...the air goes calm...and then whoosh...a seizure roars in.
They're violent, and unpredictable, and dangerous, and wreck everything you're doing in that moment...and leave in a flash. And you're left to clean up the mess they leave behind. A sleepy boy...who refuses to let his body get to sleep because he doesn't want to go back into a seizure as soon as he gets there. A mom and dad who are just on the edge of sleep all night, every night, waiting for the next storm to hit.
I hate tornadoes. I hate seizures. But the beauty of the spring always outweighs the storms. And the beauty of Max will always outweigh the seizures.
1 comment:
so beautifully said.
subtle yet powerful words.
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