The One with the Summer Storms

Seriously. 

This has been the craziest summer ever. 

And it's only been a couple weeks into June. 

I can't recall a year when I saw so many intense storms back to back. 

In the last two weeks, we've had two devastating thunderstorms. 

Thunder like I've never heard. 

Lightening that lit the sky for hours. 

Winds that took down trees. and power lines. 

And subsequently left us without electricity or phones.
But with plenty of repairs and cleanup.
Like taking care of the staff trailers that were cut in half by limbs the size of large trees.  

Not to mention the two tornado sirens.

TWO in two weeks. 

I'm not a fan of tornadoes.

But as a child (correction: until 2ish years ago), tornadoes were my biggest fear. 

As soon as I so much as saw a tornado watch scroll on the bottom of the television I was done for. 

Hyperventilating. 

Nauseous stomach. 

Panic. 

When I was a camp counselor five years ago, 

I realized I could no longer be afraid. 

Or at least, I couldn't show my fear. 

I had children all around me needing comfort as the threatening clouds rolled in. 

But even in this situation, God had his hand. 

Because without my previous fear of storms, 

I wouldn't have been able to empathize with them as fully as I did. 

Last night was the fourth time we've seen frightening storms.

But this one seemed worse the rest. 

I saw ominous clouds and wasn't too worried. 

Then the tornado watch siren sounded.

I wasn't too worried, because it just meant conditions were right.

So we went about our business. 

My mom and I started a camp fire.

[Insert side story here:

The two of us girls went to the firewood bin to pick up a few logs. 

After I grabbed the second piece of wood, 

my mom screamed and I looked and screamed and dropped the wood instantly. 

There was a snake under that log. 

And I almost touched it. 

EEEEEEE. 

I hate snakes. 

Even if it was just a little garter snake.] 

We had just finished our s'mores as the rain began to fall.

I snatched our belongings and headed for the camper. 

Along the way, I burnt my leg with the roasting fork.

It had been sitting in the fire for approximately 10 minutes. 

It was HOT. 

I think I'm going to have some pretty crazy scars. 

After making our way to shelter, we looked out the window

and things seemed worse. 

I didn't feel like dealing with the uncertainty of checking the skies every 25 seconds. 

So I made the call. 

And the three of us made our way up to the ground keeper's home. 

Ahhh, yes. 

A firm foundation under our feet. 

A basement to hide in. 

Not to mention 34 fellow camp staff

And fresh chocolate chip cookies. 

And homemade buttery popcorn. 

It was a relief. 

Sure, my heart was still racing, my hands still quivering, but I was ok. 

After a couple hours of hiding out,

watching the lightening, 

hearing the thunder, 

and watching the radar,

we decided to head back "home"--

with Debbie's promise of calling me the moment something became scary. 

We slept through the night. 

We're still alive. 

Our cat probably thinks we're torturing him. 

But it's really not our fault, after all. 

I think God's just showing off his power or something.