On our first night in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a storm blew in.
We had been watching storms for the past few days. In the plains you can see rain from miles away. We’d watch as a black line of clouds would approach from the west with lightning strikes happening way off in the distance, but often the storms would pass to our south.

[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”]Photo Credit: Vincent Parsons Flickr via Compfight cc[/featured-image]
But we checked the radar on a weather app and recognized it might be a real possibility for us. One storm came in just before bedtime, so we road it out in our car, watching all the wonder and fury.

About an hour or so later, another storm came in. I could see the flashes of lightning illuminate the fly over the tent and then hear the thunder. Then they got closer together. Soon, Olivia joined us on our side of the tent, and then a couple minutes later, Noah dragged his sleeping bag over. We could hear hail hitting the tent amidst the lightning show.

We wanted to promise that everything would be alright, but we didn’t know. I’d rather not make promises I can’t keep. My fear wasn’t the hail but if the wind became more intense. We chatted about the storm, things to look forward to in the days ahead, and the storm bedtime scene in “The Sound of Music.”

Storms happen. We know this both in the weather and life. No one can avoid them even though we wish we could. It’s best to hunker down with someone you love and ride it out if you can. And to remind yourself about your favorite things. Soon enough they will pass; they always do, even those storms that seem to last much too long.

Just hold on, and trust.