Thunderstorms

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I’ve gotten caught in the rain on a few of my neighborhood walks. I do look at the weather forecast in order to time my walks, and I don’t mind walking in a drizzle, but I definitely avoid walking outdoors in a thunderstorm. I once was caught unawares by one when I was about two miles from my house. There was distant thunder at first that came closer and closer. I began to jog. I remember thinking, “This is actually fun, running in the rain! Rain is just water after all.”

But the thunder spooked me, and I began to think about what I should do. Should I go to a neighbor’s porch and wait it out, hoping said neighbor didn’t have a vicious dog or suspicions high enough to call the police? In the end, I just kept walking and running until I was home.

Last May, I was driving and hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, planning my hikes by location, difficulty, and the weather. One afternoon, I picked a hike to Crabtree Falls. Finally, a hike with a waterfall. I had not experienced a waterfall yet on this particular trip. It was a loop trail, my favorite kind, that descended to the falls, then back up and out following a stream. The falls were beautiful, and I lingered there, and breathed, and took photographs.

A gentle rain made its way through the forest canopy soon after I left the falls to complete the trail’s loop. I could hear distant thunder. “How pleasant,” I thought. Then the rain became a very heavy downpour, and I was quickly soaked. Not so pleasant. But what could I do? There were no porches to shelter under. I had to stick it out.

Walking as fast as I could up the trail, I kept my head down and forged on.

The trail emerged into a campground, and I spied a bathroom. Finally, a respite from the torrent. But there was another hiker already there. I wondered if I should just keep going and bypass the chance to shelter, or if I should hunker down with a stranger in the men’s room. I chose the latter.

My fellow storm survivor was a photographer as well as a hiker, and we chatted amiably until the rain relented. Our short time together in the restroom was quite nice, and it made me wonder why I had even contemplated trudging on in the rain instead of stopping? Was it because I wanted to believe I could do this by myself? That I was self-sufficient enough to go it alone?

Sometimes life sends us storms. We can seek shelter in the company of others, or in solitude with the Divine. Sometimes there is no shelter available, and we must just carry on, plunging ahead and making a path on our own, hopefully while recognizing that the Divine is with us.

The storm of Harvey’s Alzheimer’s disease afforded me with several opportunities for both options. When I could, I chose to bring others on board to help me ride out the storm. They brought companionship and encouragement. Other times, there was nothing to do except to  keep moving forward. If I was truly awake to the moment, I could sense that the strength to put my head down and get the job done was because the Divine was walking alongside me.