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.

My great-great-aunt (a few generations up on my mom's side, don't remember exactly how many) was struck by lightning when she was standing by a window (holding her little sister, who was not hurt).Didn't kill her but messed up her hip for the rest of her life. So there's a healthy respect for lightning in my family. But not like Sophia's.

Much ~ma, Drew

I can't figure out how people do that divided sleep thing,

I had to go parent for a bit so the conversation may have moved on, but on the divided sleep front, last night was one of those nights when I unintentionally do this. Usually what happens is I wake up around 3 full of anxiety and need to write for an hour or two before I can go back to sleep. But Frances spiked a pretty high fever last night and went to bed early, but woke at 4 am when her ibu wore off and her fever came back. So I had to get up, take her temp, and treat her. And then Isaac woke up with a headache, so had to take his temp too (normal -- phew!) and then treat his head. And then had to take turns lying down with each of them. So it was easily 1 1/2 hours before I went back to my own bed. But I DID go back to sleep, thanks to an extra dose of melatonin. Chalking that in the Win category.

I've been waking up at 3 or 4 every morning for most of my pregnancy. I usually read or go on twitter for an hour then fall back to sleep until 7 or 8.

My family members all have greater respect for storms than I do. I love a storm and tend to sit and watch right in front of the window. Even when we board up for hurricanes I have a window left free for me to sit and watch the awesomeness. I probably haven't instilled any great fear of storms into the boys that way. Mom and siblings will do things like not run water or talk on the phone. Me, not so much.

On the lightning front, my mom also told us to stay off the phone, but only if the lightning was nearby, which, given that we lived in LA, it rarely was. She was fine with letting us sit on her bed and watch the lightning outside her big window. But she had some stories! Like the time a bolt of lightning danced around her yard and then landed a few feet away from her. No doubt scaring the crap out of everyone.

Lightning was cause to get off the phone and stay away from water when I was a kid as well. Country people have a different relationship to storms.