Storms

On Monday night, we had quite the thunderstorm come through our area. The thunder was quite loud, and of course it it right at the kids' bedtime. We were taking bets on which kid would come in first, how long it would take, and who would sleep with who if both kids were needing some extra snuggles.

After one especially loud boom, probably at around 9:00, Dominic came sobbing into our room. He was all hunched within himself, visibly shaken. In a very quivery voice he said, "I had a terrible dream! It was terrible!"

I scooped him up and hugged him close, walking him back into his own room. I told him it was OK, and asked him what made him so scared. He kept repeating, "A terrible dream! Terrible!" I had to rearrange my question and instead ask him what his dream was about. He said, "It was really, really loud. Lots of loud noises."

I smiled and said, "Baby, that wasn't a dream, that was thunder! But you don't have to be scared, because thunder won't hurt you. I always like to think it's God bowling. You really love bowling right? Remember going bowling with Ryan and Allison, and how loud it was when the balls would hit the pins. Well just imagine that it's God bowling - and He's probably loving it just as much as you do!"

He was calming down a bit and added, "And the lights are fireworks?"

I hadn't heard that one before. But I went with it. I said, "That's a good idea - yes! When God gets a strike, He gets very excited and shoots off fireworks to celebrate."

Then I added, "You know what I always used to pretend it was -- I pretended the lights were God taking my picture."

Dominic laughed.

I told him, "So it's just a storm -- and it's loud -- but we're in a big strong house, and we're safe. So you don't have to be afraid."

Dominic said, "But mom, I like storms. And I'm not afraid of bowling. I'm afraid of thunder!"