Hail (to the Chief)

It sounded like big sticks landing on our tin roof. At first the sound just irritated me, then the kids started asking what it was, and I asked the Chief to check it out. I thought maybe a piece of the tree had landed on the roof.Here is the Chief's big hand with a piece of the hail that was landing in our neighborhood. There were thousands of these. It was very loud, and it scared me to death. I imagined it puncturing the roof. Then I imagined being stuck out in it. The Chief and I stood at the door and just watched with our mouths open.

It tore the trees to pieces.

I guess it was the sound that made me feel so primitive. It was so loud on our roof and on our neighbor's roofs. I squeezed Lee's arm like I was riding a roller coaster. It made me think about the floods in Tennessee and Egyptian locust plagues.

And then I thought about how life gets in the way - there's always that day to day stuff that plagues us and makes us nip at each other and fight and be hateful. It's especially true in marriage, but it's true of all of us. And I thought that even if it were fiery meteor balls falling from the sky, I would still want to be there, standing next to him, squeezing his arm.