On-Call Baby-Hugger

We are having some pretty severe storms here right now. Lorelai is in bed, our satellite has lost signal, and Chris has retreated to the study. So what is a girl to do? I suppose a little blog is in order.

I used to love storms. I don't not love storms now, but I do look at them differently.
When I was a young teenager I was fascinated by bad weather. Wind, clouds, lightening, and tornadoes...living in north Texas was a prime place to witness all of these wonders. I very much wanted to see a tornado with my own eyes...I thought that would be the ultimate for the storm-chaser in me. Years later I would find out my house was actually hit by an F1.
It was the middle of the night, and I woke up with loud wind-burts slamming against my window. My whole room lit up from the series of lightening strikes, and the whole house shook from its thunder. I creeped out of my bed and peeked out the window to survey the severity of the storm. I parted the blinds and was a bit confused. I could see the house next door. You see, there was a large tree outside my second floor bedroom; it was taller than the house and engulfed my entire window. So, as you can imagine, seeing the openness through the window and not a rustling collection of branches was quite a shock. "Why don't I see a tree?" I thought. Looking down I saw the tree, snapped in half at the trunk.
That's when I decided to go wake my parents. The rest of the storm persisted through the night and in the morning we saw the rest of the damage. We lost another tree in the backyard, it was leaning on the neighbor's house; the trampoline was in pieces, thrown all over the lawn; and about a third of the fence was flattened, leaving a large "airy" feeling in the backyard. We found out later it was confirmed tornado that traveled through our neighborhood. I finally had my tornado, and I missed it because it was 3am. Oh well. But like I said, that was then...


Now I have a house of my own, and I don't think strong winds, large hail, piercing lightening, and tornadoes are as exciting anymore. Now I am fearful of collapsing fences, damaged cars, a destroyed roof, broken windows...just to list a few.
This evening the storms rolled through and I pulled out my phone and flashlights. I was prepared. The initial front was not very impressive, and I was okay with that, then a hour later, the storm revealed its power. If I wasn't a mom I probably wouldn't have been so nervous, but I was restless for my baby. She handled it just fine for quite awhile, then out of no where, a massive lightening strike hit the ground what sounded like mere yards away from our house. Lorelai dropped her toy and ran over to my lap nervously. "Uh oh! Uh oh!" she kept repeating. No tears though. She was okay...not comfortable, but not frightened. It quieted down again and I began cleaning up the familyroom for Lorelai's bedtime. I walked back into her room, I knew she was trailing behind me, but I didn't know another lightening strike would hit and with a loud boom, the lights died. The lights quickly turned back on, and I saw one of the most terrifying moments of my little baby's life. Her face was horrified and she screamed out with terror. "MAMA" was muddled in her short string of babbling; her arms shot out in my direction and I knew this was different kind of scared for her. I don't know how to explain it, her reaction was something I do not wish to witness again. I don't even remember what I did with the objects I was putting away. I just remember grabbing her and pulling her up to me. I found myself overly protective and clutching her close. She was gripping my shirt tightly, holding on for safety and comfort. My eyes were watery...apparently my reaction was to cry for her? I don't know! It was just lightening, but my instincts kicked in and I felt as if someone was trying to harm my child. It was ever-so brief, but the look on her face and her heart-wrenching cries were enough to upset me instantly.
That's when I knew for sure, I do not wish to sit through severe storms for awhile. I didn't need the "cool" experiences, I needed my child to feel safe in her own house. Now, obviously I can't control the weather, but as Lorelai sat in my lap for the next 45mins, I asked God to weaken the storms a bit so my baby could relax and sleep peacefully.


I hear the weather kicking back up again, and I sit on the edge of my seat, hoping Lorelai sleeps through the next waves of lights and sounds. Normally I hate getting up during the night, but tonight I will jump up willingly...I'd hate for her to be scarred like that again.
I hope everyone is safe in their homes, hugging their babies if they need hugging, and snuggling their puppies if they need snuggling! I think it will be a long night over here, and an even longer spring. I'm sure Lorelai will become braver as time goes on, but for now I am an on-call baby-hugger. ;)

M.LEWIS