3am...

It is 3am in the morning right now, and I am awake because the cosmaos itself demanded it. No. Really. There is the most incredible lightning and thunderstom shaking my poor little house. Thankfully the kiddoes haven't been disturbed (they sleep like their father) but I had to come out to see the goings on. I walk out to my back door, and it is so eerily light outside I keep looking at the clock to make sure that it is really 3am, not 6am. It is hot, 80 degrees or so, and damp - it is not so much raining, as the air is thick with drops of water. I can feel it on my skin, but it is not enough to get me wet yet. I can literally feel the energy in the air around me. The hair on my skin prickles with it. CRACK! Branches of lightening unfold right over my head, stretching across the sky. My heart skips a beat, and I can't help but grin. I love to feel the power of mother earth - from a certain safety. I go back inside, marveling at what is around me. I tried to lay down again. I listened to the thunder, and even though my eyes are sandy and sleepy, I can't help but keep them cracked open, hoping to catch the next flash. Then the rain hits. I hear it pouring outside my window, and suddenly my mind flashes back to another late summer storm when Jen and I decided that we had to see what was going on instead of staying inside where we belonged (according to the rest of the town :D) We walked to a little patch of grass at the end of our street, where we could get away from all the trees and see a broad expanse of sky. We lay down, wrapped in our little cotton sweatshirts, and watched the sky. We talked - of things that are important to young women in their late teens - the incredible awesomeness of being, the cosmos and where we belonged in it, magic, nature, and of course, boys. We lay on that grass for - I don't even know how long. When we finally came stumbling back into my parents condo we were soaked completely to the bone. And it was one of the few times in my life that being wet led to us both coming down with a cold. But it was worth it. Every moment. The sky, the branches of lightening, shivereing and laughing, and bonding deep in our souls. Ahhh. Mother Nature. And now, as it quiets around my home, the sky is dark once again. How strange to have a near dawn light in the middle of the night, and watch it dim. I will never cease to be facinated by all the myriad faces of this planet - right here in my own back yard.

Sweet Dreams.