The moment chooses us.

July is being her sassypants self with this heat.

Somehow I no longer mind. I've made my peace with the weather.

Actually, I was on the bay side of the barrier island in hurricane force winds last week and the most intense squall I have ever experienced yet. I actually challenged the lightning to strike. There was quite a show in the room upstairs with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the bay and the house shaking. Thunder booming. Water broke over the bulkhead in waves, and it was like being on a ship at sea in a storm. I was alone upstairs, and I fully understood the fury of the storm. I was grateful for this too.


in an email to Robin - July 7, 2012

Lightning and stillness

Lightning struck a tree about 500 feet from my kitchen seat. I was reading Sunday's paper (on Wednesday) and my head was angled just enough to capture the storm outside as well as the words I was reading.

the strike
a flashboombolt
inside my chest

It was as magnificent as it was terrorizing. Fear and awe. I could not process it in my mind - way too close. Stillness was all that was left. And fleeting beauty.