My Lightning Show

   I love love love lightning storms. We get them so rarely here in California that it's such a treat when it occurs. However, the past few years, due to my work hours and how precious sleep was, I have missed a couple of performances. When working day shift, my alarm clock went off at around 4:15 am. The lightning storms usually occur after midnight. From midnight until my alarm went off was serious business for me. If anything got in the way of those last few fleeting hours, it was an absolute disaster for me. Dramatic much? Oh yeah...that was serious shit. So, the couple of times that we had a lightning storm after midnight on a work night, I would wake up and be excited for about 2 seconds before stomping up out of bed to shut the window, draw the black out shades down and close the door so the light and noise wouldn't wake me and then I would try to hurry up and go back to sleep. It was miserable. I would miss out on one of my favorite things because I couldn't risk lack of sleep before a shift.

   But guess what? I was granted another shot last night. Windows open, I was dead asleep when I woke to the beautiful music of thunder. I didn't know exactly what it was at first, but it was confirmed by another set of lightning strikes, completely bathing my room in that sharp whiteness. I look at the clock, it was a little before 4 am. I could get up! I could go towards the front of the house for a better view! Found Jimmy with the same idea already out of bed and in front of a wide open window watching the show. I joined him. I put my arms around him and just smiled. We watched it for about 15 minutes and then I was content to go back to sleep. I could have totally done this before and it wouldn't have changed how tired I was! I missed out. But no more. There are so many wonderful things out there that I can fully experience and enjoy now. My children and the experiences with them was what brought me to the decision to stay at home, but I had forgotten all of the other little things I had been denying myself. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to fully enjoy my children and I am loving the added bonus of all the little extras.