storms.

As I walked home today I was amazed at the sky. It had this ornate ability to be drenched in light but at the same time dark as the middle of the night. There was one colossal black cloud covering the sun.

As I walked the sky began to drip, slowly at first, as if giving me just enough time to cross the threshold of my safe haven. The weatherman told me “severe storms were on their way.”

For anyone who is not from Oklahoma, I will just tell you that more

often than not the severe storms are far more hairy scary than tornado warnings.

The sky began to pour. Then the hail came. Then wind…

that famous Oklahoma wind that has no mercy
for a fixed hair doo or a short skirt, let alone for a tree or house.

The power went out.

We watched out the window as the wind blew the rain and hail so hard you could not see a thing. Of course, it was scary standing there thinking that everything could cave in on you…

but maybe my fear stems from one fourth of July experience six years ago.

When the rain finally let up we saw that Norman was no longer Norman. In fact, all the streets had been transformed into the beautiful, mysterious canals of Venice, which just happens to be my dream vacation. My street in particular had its very own gondola, which moonlighted as a big blue trash can, just making its way down the Miller Avenue canal. Venice, of course, would not be complete without its tourists. In this manner, my neighbors came out of the woodwork one by one equipped and ready with their cameras to take pictures of the canals and the architecture… that had been ruined in this case...

The currents in the street were very strong, even with my Wellies I dared not step out into them… no matter how much I wanted to… and I really, really wanted to.

Wouldn’t one of those blow up rafts be perfect in a time like this?

There was hail everywhere, it almost looked like
Christmas time with snow on the ground…

minus the broken down cars everywhere.

The power was out for a while; the Internet was out even longer.