It was early. Frightfully early. About 5 a.m. But I was wide awake. I had fallen asleep before 11 the previous night and, since my custom is not to sleep more than 5 or 6 hours in a single stretch, there I was, wide awake at 5. I've always been that way. It can be frustrating; with all due respect to truck drivers and bakers, I mean who else is up at 5? There's not a whole hell of a lot going on. However, that's also the beauty of it - the time is all yours. You can read, write, think, or just be. This morning I happened to be in just be mode. I padded, barefoot, around my apartment soaking up the quiet serenity of my surroundings. It wasn't quite light yet but there was a distant, faint glow of the impending dawn in the eastern sky. A few birds had begun to greet the coming light, each with their distinct morning melody. Suddenly, their singing was interrupted by the unmistakable rumble of distant thunder. I stood in front of my large bay window to see if I could observe any lightening. And I was rewarded with a spectacular show! The flashes and the rumblings were still in the distant west but I could tell they were moving rapidly towards the east and me. The great majority of neighborhood homes were still in the dark. The explosive flashes of light silhouetted them with increasing frequency. The storm would soon be right on top of me. As it got closer, the thunder and lightening got more and more intense. The thunder was so booming that it began to rattle the apartment windows. And, instead of mere flashes of light in a distant sky, I could see the lightening was now reaching the ground. They were all around me. The wind picked up and was strong enough to straighten out the curtains on my windows. After all of the intense summer heat we've recently experienced, it felt so clean and refreshing. And I could smell the impending rain. There's nothing like it. In a matter of seconds, I would experience the full brunt of the storm. Then, it was here. With a window rattling CRACK, a bolt of lightening appeared to strike in my front yard. BOOM, followed the angry thunder. And then the rains came. Buckets of it. Torrents of tropical rain. All of it punctuated by a steady supply of CRACKS and BOOMS. The whole show lasted about 15 or twenty minutes. At one point, I laid back on my bed and closed my eyes. Not to sleep but rather to listen and feel. I wanted to experience the moment to its fullest - not just see it, but use all of my senses. And I was rewarded for it. As the rain filled the reservoirs, the storm filled my soul as well.
When it was all done and the storm moved to the east, I did go back to bed. I fell back to sleep, my mind and soul once again at peace with the world.
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