Ben by Daniel Shelton for September 25, 2021

My grandmother said that the loud sudden noise was the Dutchmen bowling. Nothing to be afraid about. It worked, I was never afraid. Found it interesting counting the seconds to see how far away the lightning struck.

I told my kids it was the angels bowling in Heaven with God

And the dog, the cat, the ferret …

And my mother told me it was the angels in Heaven that were bowling.

I was told it was GOD himself/herself bowling. God or Goddess it was still loud and scary as a kid. Another one my Mom use to tell me was in ice storms where lots of trees and branches fell it was just GOD doing some pruning :-)

Gonna need a bigger bed.

Thunder is loud and it’s impressive, but it’s the lightning that does the work.

I explained it to my stepdaughter as God setting off firecrackers.

I tell children the raindrops are having a party, the lightning flashes to see where the party is being held, and the thunder is calling the lightning to wait. You would not believe how many party stories children can invent as they sit happily next to me watching the storm. They go from shrieking in fear to giggling with laughter.