Lightning and Thunder

Lightning and Thunder

                I remember when I was young how lighting and thunder were described to me. One of the few memories I have of my father (that’s a whole other story for another time) is of the time when he and my stepmother explained to me what thunder and lightning were. I re that stormy day, I was about 4 or 5 and I was sitting on my father’s couch looking out the window watching it our down rain when I asked what lightning and thunder were. My stepmother told me that God and the angels were bowling. The sound of thunder meant the angels had gotten a strike and lighting was when the ball hit the pins. I wonder how old I was when I no longer thought of the angles bowling.

                I have not explained things the same way to my child as they were explained to me. Now when my daughter asks me about it I tell her the sound of thunder is clouds crashing together and lightning is electricity that sparks in the sky. She seems to be satisfied with this answer for now. I know there are lots of other explanations that are given for such things and it makes me wonder about all the other things that we make up explain things to our children. Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, where babies come from, etc. When is such innocence lost? I dread the day when I come to realize that such innocence lost in my child’s eyes. Why do they have to grow up so fast?