Scared

As kids we are scared of many different things. The dark, the boogie monster, vegetables, etc. When you become older and maybe sexually active, you get scared that you might get a girl pregnant or maybe contract an STD (if you are not practicing safe sex, which all who are not in committed relationships should be). Many people are scared that they are not going to live up to others expectations. As parents you tend to be scared for your children. You do everything you can to keep your children from having the same fears you had as children yourself. You figure different ways to in essence "trick" your kids in to thinking that a spray bottle will work as monster repellent, or you tell them silly stories about why thunderstorms happen to get them to be calm. But who is there when we get older to help us with our own fears? Fear of immortality, fear of failure, or fear of being alone. One way is to have supportive friends and family around to give you good advice, pick you up when you are feeling down, or just be a listening ear for those of us who want or need to vent.

The storms that ran through the region last night got me scared. Not necessarily for me, but for others that I care about. I couldn't do anything for them, other than give them warning. I kind of felt like I was in the movie "Twister". Of course this day and age we have alerting systems that work fairly well, but nothing is 100% accurate. I felt helpless because I couldn't be there for those who I care about because I know that they were frightened. So since I could not be there in person, I made sure that they were all informed of what was on the horizon as soon as I could. Everyone and everything is safe and that's not because of what I did, but prevention is key in situations like that. Without that you could have chaos and with chaos you can have serious injury. I know that many adults do not like storms like that anymore than children do. I was always told that when there was a thunderstorm going on, that it was just God bowling up in Heaven. And when there was lightening, that's when God got a strike. Most storms, I thought God must have been throwing a perfect game because there was always so much lightening.

I am very thankful that no one was hurt and that there was limited damage in the areas of the storm last night. I am also very thankful that I have such good friends to take care of looking over what I can't. Storms are just that. We have to forge our way through all sorts of storms, whether natures storms, or society's storms. I like to call them shi*t storms. I go through many of them per week with work. With each storm that you are able to make you way through, the stronger you become. You begin to realize that it isn't the end of the world and that you can make it through another one. With the right support and knowledge, anyone can make it through any storm brought their way. Don't be ashamed to be scared. Don't be scared to ask for help. We have all been scared at some point and it's always easier to be scared with someone else, especially if they have been there before you.