This time of year in Florida, rain is nice because you get a brief reprieve from the heat. But, as of Monday, we’d had 14 straight days of storms. That morning, we woke up at 6:30 a.m. to what sounded like Armageddon outside.

Lightning and thunder were striking/booming simultaneously, over and over again. The entire house was shaking and it looked like a fireworks show outside. I got up, and peeked out the window. Trees were bowed over in the wind, it was raining sideways, and there was a large branch in our pool. Richard wasn’t in bed. He usually gets up really early to go running.

Knowing Mason would be frightened, I quickly walked toward the other side of the house. As I stepped into the dark living room, lightning flashed and Max was standing right in front of me. He scared the bejeebers out of me!

I went into Mason’s room and, despite the nature war going on outside, he was sound asleep, snoring loudly.

I then realized I hadn’t seen Richard anywhere in the house and I got concerned. What if he was out running in this? He’d get struck by lightning for sure! I checked both bathrooms and then every room in the house. I finally screamed his name and he answered. He was behind the bar area, unplugging electronics. Shwew!!!

I checked the radar on my phone to see if a tornado might be nearby. We were only under a flood warning and nothing else. So, we all went back to our bedrooms and Richard and I curled up together and watched the lightning show until it moved past the coast and over town. That storm was the talk of the town on Monday!

Later that morning, we heard Tampa had received 6+ inches overnight, and that roads were flooded everywhere. A friend of ours had driven her car into four feet of water. I guess she missed that “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” public service message? She’s fine, thank goodness.

THIS WEEK’S MASONISM:

May I please have some more broccoli?

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