To my brother Leland James

Awoke to a thunderstorm this morning, and couldn't stop smiling. Thoughts and memories have been rushing through my mind as I have gazed at every crack of lightning. The last time I saw a storm like this was on a humid summer morning when I was about 6 or 7, and I watched the storm carry on with my brother LJ. I was in my room and he was in his. I wanted to see what my family was doing, and as I walked by his bedroom, I saw him on his bed hypnotized by the pounding and flashing in the hazy sky. I remember sneaking in, probably in one of my dad's gargantuan T-shirts, and crawling into the bed with LJ. He gave me a hug and kiss as usual, and without a word, he and I watched the power of nature at its most extreme. 

 

When I awoke this morning to such pandemonium, I quietly made my way upstairs to LJ's room after turning off Zazu gawking on the main menu of The Lion King that my cousins and I watched last night. I snuck into LJ's bed and just watched as I did that one summer morning. Each crack of thunder would conjure a memory, a thought, or even a piece of history. I recalled my first year of Girl's Camp, when a girl in my tent awoke to a raging thunderstorm, and I awoke to her crying. She and I both remember praying that restless night for comfort and for safety. I thought of how thunder is a type of power. Ancient Native Americans saw it as a spiritual power that controlled the salvation of anything living. Then I think of my own heritage, the Polynesians...how they were tested with survival on the seas and the things they would do to protect their families and loved ones. Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid even came to mind when he saved his dog on a burning ship during a raging tempest, followed by the awakening to a babe with perfect red hair singing to him as the sun rose on the shore. I love Disney. 

 

At this very moment, I smell something burning, and the sirens have already started. It's amazing how a storm can destroy and heal, and how it can come and go so easily. It's astonishing how such power and energy can dominate in a place for so long, then vanish and leave the rain to calm everything down. So as I gaze out my window and see the lightning fading and the rain falling, I dedicate this thunderstorm, this moment, and these memories to my brother Leland James.