“Kids Say the Darndest Things”
Well hey there. As I was leaving this morning my youngest daughter hugged me tight and said “Have the time of your life Momma.” She says this every week as I head off to bike into town. It always makes my day but this morning I complained that it was blustery windy outside and I wasn’t looking forward to battling the winds. My little girl didn’t miss a beat. She just flashed me a big smile and said “Remember to dance in the rain and enjoy the hurricane.”
Wow. This caught me off guard. I’ve heard of dancing in the rain… but enjoying a hurricane? Really? I can’t say that I have ever heard anyone say “Geez, I really enjoyed that hurricane!” But as I biked along and thought about what my daughter said I remembered that even though hurricanes can be largely devastating, they also have benefits.
They bring sand to barrier islands that help protect the mainland.
They stir up the waters of the ocean which helps prevent toxic red tides and bacteria that cause sickness.
Hurricanes distribute extreme heat from the tropics and send it farther north. If it wasn’t for these powerful storms the tropics would get hotter and hotter while the poles got colder and colder.’
And of course, the obvious is that hurricanes bring much-needed rain to areas of drought as they travel up the coast and inland.
So maybe I’m not excited to ride my bike for 15 miles while winds try and blow me over and slow me down, but I told myself that I was getting in twice the workout without having to put in extra time 🙃. So that’s cool. Also, we really need rain. Last year we had a pretty bad drought and barely got any hay out of our fields which usually produce more than we need. This winter Nate and I had to drive an hour and a half to buy hay, twice; and it wasn’t cheap.
Thankfully I made it to the coffee shop before the storm hit. It’s going to be hitting soon. High winds and hail, then lots and lots of rain all night.
I can’t say that I have ever enjoyed it when life brings me a hurricane. In fact, I’m usually pretty pissed about it. Besides being fucking scary, the reality of the devastation is almost unbearable. Having to rebuild my whole life was no easy task. But looking back, I must say that I am really grateful that our whole world was upended. And although the truth hurt like hell, it also pushed us to take a hard look at everything. In doing that, we became aware of how tragically unhealthy our life had been. The storm had done a ton of damage, but it also cleared away the toxic beliefs and mindsets we had grown up with. Nate and I had the opportunity to start fresh. And we dove in. It was a sink-or-swim situation. We chose to swim.
A lot of people are amazed that Nate and I have stayed together through so much shit. I think the only reason is that we both keep choosing to embrace change. We want to learn; we want to grow. In fact, not only do we want to, but we fucking love to. We love evolving and opening our minds to new ideas. It has been so refreshing to let go of the millions of judgments we were raised to have. It’s like for the first time, I finally can see people and accept them just as they are. I don’t have to assess their beliefs or question their choices and figure out if they are worthy of heaven or not. I can appreciate that we are all different, unique, and beautiful. Quite honestly, it’s like having a huge weight lifted off me. I love it. It’s a constant practice though; learning to not judge people because it’s always my first instinct. But I have a lot of good conversations with my partners about this and it’s so wonderful to have two people who are learning and growing alongside me.
I’m super lucky. If it wasn’t for Nate being so brave in the beginning to question how we thought about everything in life, I would never be in this space of freedom and acceptance. He took the first step, and I will forever be grateful.
The worst of the storm is fixing to be over me. I can hear the thunder. The sky is strangely green. We don’t get hurricanes in MO, but boy do we get some tornadoes. I don’t particularly like tornadoes and I will always choose to hide in the shelter instead of standing out and enjoying one. But today, I also choose to remember that storms are essential. They keep us from becoming static and growing harmful bacteria in our lives.
Thank you to all the storms in my life that shook me from my comfort zone and gave me opportunities to learn, rebuild and become a truer version of myself.
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