Daily Dickens: Facing the Storm

When I was little girl my mother and father would pack me up to take weekend roadtrips.  The destination didn't matter.  We enjoyed the togetherness.  We knew there were discoveries to be made.  On more than one trip the weather turned from glorious to ugly.  To calm themselves (and me) they'd sing.  The song brought a new energy to what we were facing.  An energy called strength.

That memory popped into my head this morning as I readied Dickens for his morning constitutional.  I don't know why my mind wandered back to this memory.  It had never surfaced before now.  I've faced other weather phenomena without this memory.

Today's promise of a powerful hurricane named Sandy has me a bit rattled.  It's not the media hype.  It's not the sound of the wind gaining his own strength.  It's not the threat of an indoor water feature.  I can't quite pinpoint the uneasiness I'm feeling, but when I recall that memory of Dad's hands on wheel and Mom next to him both singing with such love and passion, I feel better.

There's another energy that I often times neglect.  It's called faith.  There has to be a purpose connected to this storm.  There has to be something good that emerges from this stress.  Faith has gotten me through this last twelve months as I cared for both Mom and Dad in his final time with us.  Faith has guided me to take care of what I need to do.  Faith.  That belief there is someone who knows better than I that's it's going to be alright.  It's where I place my trust.

Dickens has been unsettled these past few days.  He and his classmates looked for any distraction they could find to ignore yesterday's lessons.  He's usually the one dying to go out and play, yet he now "does his business" and runs back into the house.  I don't know if dogs have a faith group.  A place in their hearts where they put their trust in something or someone unseen.  In this world, if he does have such a belief system that trust rests with me. 

So my soul tells me to call upon my faith for strength and reassurance.  To be there for Mom and Dickens and any neighbors who might need my help.  I hope Sandy passes swiftly into this good night.  I hope all in the line of fire had the good sense to get out of the way and let this weather system go by.  I hope everyone impacted calls upon their faith, whatever that may be,  to keep them and the creatures they have stewardship over fighting the good fight. 

In the meantime, here's the song Mom and Dad used to sing: