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Storms

I've always been afraid of storms. Probably the reason for this is the way we handled them. Sometimes we children were home alone when a storm came up. If we thought it was a bad storm, we lined up in the shed, which was attached to the house, preparing to run across the road to the neighbors. What made us think that we'd be safer there? It was the way we lined up that didn't make much sense. Our oldest sister, Ruth, led the way, carrying the youngest piggy back. Behind her we all lined up according to age, so I was second youngest from the end, with Norma, who is two years younger than I, coming at the very end. By the time we had decided to "take off" and were all lined up, we'd be in the heaviest part of the storm. At the given signal, we'd all run through rain and thunder and lightening to the neighbors where we waited until the storm was over. Imagine how they felt with their large family and all of us coming in there too yet. But they never made us feel unwelcome.

Sometimes the neighbors were all in the barn when we got there. They had gone there feeling that they'd be safer there. Since they weren't in the house, we didn't go in either, but stood on the porch and waited until the storm was over. They had a wrap-around porch on two sides of their house, with a roof over. We would stand close to the house on the side the wind and driving rain did not strike. Even this seemed better than being at home when it stormed.

If it stormed during the night, we all brought our quilts and pillows downstairs and slept on the living room floor. I suppose it was these memories that made me fear storms. Even now, I do not like storms. I'm always sure that I'm awake and prepared in case lightening would strike, or that there would be the possibility of a tornado.