Rainbow

I love a good storm, with the raging thunder and bright flashes of lightning not to mention the amazing sound of rain thrashing against the window. There is really nothing better than a good storm on a hot summer night! When I was a  kid we would get into our bathing suits and rush into the rain (before the thunder and lightning started of course) and dance in puddles. Once, while visiting my Aunt in Ocean City NJ there was so much rain that the storm drains filled with water and what had been a nice quiet road turned into an awesome water slide! We all grabbed our beach inertubes and flooded the street, going for the ride of our young lives! I remember it being a long ride but I imagine that if I looked at that street now it would be a short little incline... ah childhood!

I think by far the best storm I have ever experienced was in Austria (yes, almost everything leads us back to that beautiful country in central Europe... half my heart is still there). I was 19 years old, it was a hot day in early July and I was having a particularly bad week. I had just gotten word that a friend back home had lost his brother to a freak accident, I was lonely for friends, and I was frustrated with life in general (I was a rather rebellious youth and generally angry and frustrated). So, that particular day I walked out onto the edge of our mountain (we call it the sound of music hill as it looks quite like the hill that Maria does her intro dance and song 'the hills are alive'). So, I am on the Sound of Music hill and in the mountains in front of me are the angriest clouds, rain was streaming down my cheeks and great bolts of lightning lit the sky. If I didn't know better I would say that God was seriously pissed off about something! I stood at the base of the storm and screamed as loud as I could, hoping to vent some of my anger and frustrations, the storm drowned me out. I screamed louder, becoming angrier but still the storm drowned me out. Anger egged me on and I could sense the anger in the storm as if it were God joining me in my emotional upheaval; so we raged together, we shared the angst, we growled at life and we spent ourselves with our tears...

Tired, I turned around, thinking of heading home, and there before me was the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen in my life. Gone were the angry clouds, the rainbow filled the entire mountain scape before me and my heart, which had only moments before been tired and spent was filled with a renewed hope, a peace and sense of love that I still feel when I think back to those moments. God had met me in my anger and then showed me peace and love to counter my burning feelings.

That was the best storm I have ever witnessed. Tonight, the rain outside is simply soothing, reminding me of times gone by and filling my soul with peace and hope once again.