Friday, June 13, 2008

At the End of the Waterfall

Yes, Utah is a desert. If I had any doubt of this before, all doubts have been squashed - well, drown rather, in a Pennsylvania summer storm. I wonder if my fascination of thunderstorms followed by a downpour of Noah like conditions is because I did grow up in Utah. Utah, the high desert mountain state where rain falls, but not much. The thunder and rainstorm I witnessed today was enough to convince me that it never rains in Utah - even when it is raining.

The morning began wet. If you think wet is almost being drown by the amount of rain that is falling off the eaves of your roof, then I should say it began very wet. Within minutes, tiny rivers were forming along the streets of our small apartment complex. It wasn't just raining. Water was falling from the heavens as if a galactic river had changed course, creating a galaxy size waterfall. And the end of that waterfall was going to be a small apartment complex in Canonsburg, Pa. Luckily, the river had decided it was a bad idea to drain into our corner of the universe. The rest of the day was actually quite sunny. I want to say it was nice, but I don't know how I fell about humidity yet. It was hot and sticky. And if I had missed this morning, I never would have guessed gallons and gallons of water flowed and flowed from the skies above.

Then the sun went down. The galactic river must not have recognized us in the dark, because it tried us out again. Still trying to find the perfect spot for the end of its waterfall. But this time, she brought a flashlight. Amazing bursts of light lit up the sky for fractions of seconds. Those surges of light, had they been by themselves would have been so terribly beautiful. However, the light was immediately followed by violent, riotous claps that awoke the 5-year-old little girl in me, and for a moment, I just thought it was terrible. I saw the light, heard the thunder and instinctively wanted to be under a bed. Happily, that was a short-lived emotion. I turned out the lights in our place, opened up all the blinds and watched the show. God is so grand.

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