Similar Storms

     

    The rain storms we had yesterday that lasted into and through the evening, I'd wondered when we'd had summer storms such as this.        

    Prior to last night's storms, during yesterday morning, as I'd finished my training run. I began my 400 meter cool down walk home. I saw two neighbors. I asked, "Do you remember a cool summer like this one?" One said she'd been thinking about that.

    The three of us stopped what we were doing and recalled various dates of events in the past 30 years.

    After I got home, I cleaned up and went to writing and editing my autobiography. This, being encouraged by a friend, a long time writer specializing in the martial arts who has written for Blackbelt Magazine. 

    I proceeded to write and edit for hours. I then ran an errand and was back at it again. As I re-read the first 50 pages, I found myself laughing at stories I'd written about on the first 9 years of my life. 

    One story was in the summer of 1971. That I can say was a big year for the obtuse. 

    As one 1971 event occurred a couple days after another one that I thought I'd definitely get in trouble for and eventually be grounded by our mother for the rest of the summer. It was something kind of like a dare that my older brother thought I for sure would have attempted and failed at. 

    He/Don was feeling his oats in trying to ungum-shoe his little sister/a.k.a his mother forced mini-bodyguard. However, I succeeded at his dare. I feared mom would find out, and I'd be grounded and my brother would get off scott-free. 

    My dad would have laughed. He would have asked why didn’t I punch the bully in the nose and he would have called my brother a 'wimp'. Yet my brother seemed to always eek out of being grounded, conversely not I. Yet this time the worm had turned. 

    The phone rang that early summer afternoon in 1971, it was after a couple wicked days of storms. The storm the night before was horrendous. 

    As I awoke this morning, the day after I'd rewritten and edited that story of those days of uncertainty and possible grounding, I realized last night's storm was nearly exactly like the storms I'd experienced in the summer of 1971. And by the way, my mother never found out about what I did. Instead, she found out something else and my brother was grounded that day. I was rewarded. 

    I eavesdropped that afternoon in 1971 as mom reprimanded my brother. I giggled. I'd done what I was told to do, guarded my brother and dared to do something by my brother... succeeded... and for the first time Karma had come to my aid.---Jody-Lynn Reicher