Mental Thunder

Here in the New York metro area, a line of strong thunder storms blew through early in the evening. Lots of rain and some boom booms. Thunder scares little children. Thunder scares Tiernan. But not yesterday...

Yesterday, Tiernan wanted to watch the storm. Reagan was blissfully sleeping off a couple of hours at The Club. So, Tiernan, Aunt Eileen (Lala, to her neice and nephew) and I stood under the relative shelter of the eaves and watched the storm. This was a change in policy for Tiernan. His previous policy was to be afraid of thunder and therefore, avoid the direct brunt of the storm by staying inside and doing anything to take his mind off the storm.

I love watching a thunderstorm. There is something beautiful and dangerous about it. It gives you an appreciation for the power and fury of nature. It is a force to be admired and respected. I would really like to pass on this respect and admiration to Tiernan. It's not that I wish for bad weather, but if I must endure a storm make it worth my attention.

Yesterday's storm wasn't a bad storm. There were a few thunder rumbles but no real close, loud bone-jarring claps. Nothing that made us jump out of our shoes. There was some cloud to cloud lightning but nothing that would make me take cover. It dumped a lot of water and there was plenty of rain, but there wasn't much wind, lightning or thunder. It was summer thunderstorm.

To his credit, the boy weathered the storm like trooper. He kept saying, "I am not afraid, anymore." But, he was so cute in the way he would say it. He break it up like, "I'm not afraid.... aaaannny.....more" and he'd make the "safe" signal with his arms. It is just a gesture but it was as if to say, "Dad, I know I am safe. I am not afraid any more." I think he lied, a bit. He is very attuned to thunderstorms. He may not hear anything else that is said on the news, but when the weather babe says, "possible thunderstorms," Tiernan perks up and says, "Thunderstorms? When?"

The front blew through and the skies cleared, the humidity dried up and the weather improved. By 8 p.m. it was pleasant night. Any severe weather was gone. At 9 p.m. it was bedtime for Bonzo. Time to put the kiddies to sleep. Reagan was her usual easygoing self. (It is her best thing. When she's ready to sleep, so goes to sleep. Some nights she may protest for a few minutes but she will eventually surrender to call of dreamland.) Tiernan on the other hand, was suddenly deathly afraid to go to sleep, because "the thunder was outside." At first I thought he was just using this as an excuse to stay up. But the fear on his face confirmed that he was genuinely afraid.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for Tiernan come bed time. He is still afraid of fireworks. And coming off the July Fourth festivities, when fireworks could be heard from neighboring towns almost every night beginning the weekend before the Fourth and the ending the weekend after the holiday. The only night there wasn't any explosions filling the night air was last Wednesday, July Fourth, because a line of thunderstorms cancelled most towns fireworks displays, with rain dates of the following weekend.

So for almost a week-and-half Tiernan has been going to bed anxious, if not afraid. But last night he was really afraid. We got him settled down and he eventually feel asleep. At 1:30 a.m. he was climbing into our bed, afraid of the thunder he just heard. There was no thunder. Skies were clear. I got him back into his own bed. At 3:36 a.m. he was back in our bed. He heard more mental thunder. I told him to go back to bed. He did, reluctantly. At 5:10, more mental thunder chased him into our bed and my overtired verbal thunder chased him back to his bed.

This morning as we were eating our waffles, he said, "Dad, I am sorry I kept you awake all night." And I got struck by a lightning bolt of guilt. I felt like a ogre for chasing a scared little boy away last night. Now that is mental thunder.