When I was young, my family was terrified of thunder and lightening. I would be woken up if I was in bed, and we would unplug everything and close all the windows and sit in the dark in the living room, possibly listening to the battery powered radio.
The poor dog could not compete-- there was no one to comfort him because we were all shaking and whimpering.
I also hated it because we couldn't use the toilet because my family was afraid that we might be struck by lightening on the toilet, attracted by the water in the bowl.
In their defense, my neighbors house seemed to be a magnet for lightening strikes-- I think between the trees, telephones, and televisions struck by lighting, they were hit 10 or 12 times.
Holy crap, Sophia. That seems like quite an overreaction.
My mother used to close allt he windows and sprinkle holy water in each room when there was a thunderstorm.
The cave is not far from some people's psyches.
edit: Moved to Bitches, where people are actually talking about bottled water.
My mother used to close allt he windows and sprinkle holy water in each room when there was a thunderstorm.
If there was a tornado watch -- not warning, which is the more severe of the two; just a watch -- my mom would round us all up and make us go in the basement. I would bring like 10 books. Because you never know how long you might be down there.
(She STILL texts or emails me to tell me when there are severe storms predicted. And every time, I tell her that I have the internet, TV, and radio just like she does, and I already knew about it. My former co-workers lived for her panicked Grim Reaper texts.)
In my mom's house when there was lightning, we couldn't run the water/wash dishes/shower/use the toilet. We also had to get off the phone because the lightning would follow the phone line into the house.
My preschool kids were watching a storm from a window, and she *screeched* at them to get away from the window. It frightened them of storms for a long time. And added to my tally of resentments against her, but that's another story.
In my mom's house when there was lightning, we couldn't run the water/wash dishes/shower/use the toilet. We also had to get off the phone because the lightning would follow the phone line into the house.
Oh, yeah. We had to get off the phone and couldn't take a shower. Probably had to stay away from windows, too.
Mythbusters proved the shower thing is real, IIRC.
t edit
Yup: [link]
t /edit
But I don't think I ever told my mom she was right.
She STILL texts or emails me to tell me when there are severe storms predicted.
My sister has started doing this. I think she's been possessed by the spirit of our mother. Mom would have totally texted us to warn us about every little thing she heard of, anywhere near us.
