Stormy weather memories

Memories come various forms. We tend to think of visual things as memories, but the sounds, smells, and environmental combinations of senses have made their marks on us as well. One such memory of mine goes back to one night in 1964. There was an exceptional spring storm in Pennsylvania. I recall precisely where I was and how I felt. I'm sure I could go back in the records and find the very date of that storm in the record books, since it produced floods and local damage. It was quite an event.

For me it was more than the dark and stormy night referred to in the cheap novels and in the writings of Snoopy. I was overwhelmed.

The rain was driving but not steady, sort of in sheets or dumps like some giant bucket was distributing water from above, thrown in arcs by and unseen giant, spreading it around. The sky was dark and the low clouds were transparently illuminated in puffs of light every time the lightning flashed. There was a magical quality to it all.

The huge leafy trees swayed and howled, seemingly choreographed by the forces to sway in an irregular rhythm. The wind tunnel effect and the downpour made whooshing sounds, accented by thunder. For some reason I felt exhilarated, on edge, maybe on an adrenalin natural high.

I was looking forward to the adventure of going out in this bluster, but I hesitated to drink it all in. The diagonal rain that was already hitting me was not uncomfortable at all, since the rain and air were quite warm. I stood there unable to move.

The wind! A integral part of this sensory memory was the swirling and forceful wind that accompanied the rain. The power and motion of it grabbed me, became a part of me. I remember savoring the pleasure of the moment, almost as if to predict that it would be something I would remember forty years later.

I have that emotional memory of standing, poised in that doorway. I was cocked as if ready to burst out of the starting blocks for a 100 yard dash, anticipating the thrill of the wind and rain. The sounds, wind, rain, fresh smell of ozone, the spooky but overpowering sensation was exciting. I never since have had that same wild and thrilling feeling, right to my very core, but a glimpse of it comes back to me as a memory in some storms today. When the winds whip up and things get wild, it gets my attention.