10/10/19 Journal

           

After a run on Trinity Trails this evening, I looked up to notice storms in the distance, slowly approaching Fort Worth. I wasn’t aware that we were supposed to get rain tonight. I went to dinner with my parents and got home just as it began to sprinkle outside. I watched as the storms rolled in, thunder roaring in the sky after each lightning strike. This storm is supposed to bring the mild temperature of fall in the days to come. After watching the storm come in, I decided to get some sleep because it has been a relatively hectic week. As I lay in bed, I was kept up by the rolling thunder of the storm outside. The thunder was so powerful it seemed to shake the house.

            After watching the storm roll in I decided to see if Edward Abbey ever had any quotes about lightning. His descriptive, passionate, writing seemed to be the perfect fit to such a phenomenon. After a little research I quickly found a good quote by Abbey. The quote is, “Lightning streaks like gunfire through the air, volleys of thunder shake the air.” In my opinion, Abbey was dead on with this quote. I keep thinking back to my observations of the lightning as it came through Fort Worth. I could not think of a better way to describe other than gunfire now. Each lightning strike seems so precise, followed by the next strike that again strikes a specific spot. I believe Edward Abbey also make a good observation about thunder, saying “volleys of thunder shake the air.” I imagine he was in a more secluded place when he wrote this, and maybe didn’t have a house for the thunder to shake. This makes me want to observe a storm in a secluded location, to see and feel how it contrast to that of the experience in my Fort Worth house. I believe my perception of the thunder of “shaking the house” would be rather perceived as Abbey’s “shaking the air.”

            Exploring quotes by Edward Abbey eventually led me to see if Thoreau had any famous quotes regarding storms. I found this quote from one of his journals and fell in love with its unique view of nature. The quote is, “Nature makes no noise. The howling storm, the rustling leaf, the pattering rain are no disturbance, there is an essential and unexplored harmony in them.” I think that people today can view storms as not only disturbances, but inconveniences. When I think it’s going to rain, it only means that I need to grab a jacket or an umbrella, or maybe even drive to where I need to go instead of walking. I need to make a more conscious effort to appreciate the rain and storms for what they are. These processes have evolved over millions of years to bring life back into the plants and animals that inhabit the earth. So next time it rains, I will think of this quote.