A Strom On the Horizon

It's thundering and lightening outside right now. Not very usual weather for Berlin. Jasper and I were taking an evening walk with the babies and had to rush home before the rains started. But I love stormy weather. So intense and all encompassing. I remember, years ago, being on a ferry from Livorno, Italy to Corsica. During the 5 hour journey we had a storm. People were lined up on the top enclosed deck with bags to throw up in. I went out in the storm and let the wind blow against my body and the rain paste my hair to my face. My (now ex)husband stayed indoors. He didn't like storms, was even a bit afraid of them. Such a metaphor for the difference between us, for one of the reasons it didn't work....Though I left him several years later, I think that day was a foreshadowing of the inevitable that was to come.

My love of storms may come from my childhood in Arizona. Every summer, from late July through August, is monsoon season. Flash floods and thunder storms with hot rain happen nearly daily. Strange creatures crawl out from the deep and nestle on doorsteps. I wrote a short story about it called Monsoon Season.





Speaking of my childhood and Arizona, last night, while messing around on the internet, I found out that my grandparent's home in Phoenix sold in February. We have been estranged from the family for a number of years. Alcohol, money, sex, betrayal and inheritance all figure into the story, a true gothic southern novel.

Still, it's strange to think that the house is gone and not knowing rather that means my aunt is dead. Families are strange. Even when the worst of things happen, you still are somehow tied to the people....