I remember reading about a teenager with autism who hid under a table during an actual storm at school and found it so hard to come out because he could not fathom how something so real and fierce had actually gone. It can be so hard to trust when most of what holds up and scaffolds our life has been taken away. We have faced bad weather before but usually we have our metaphorical wellies, or raincoat or brolly to ride it out. Now it feels like it is raining indoors…

It is not that we do not trust the weather man.

It is not that we are unfamiliar with rain.

We have seen rain before.

We have seen storms even,

We were just not ready or prepared for it to

start raining indoors.

All the usual tools and strategies

for dealing with an unwelcome weather front

have been locked in the shed

and the key cannot be found.

Our wet weather gear was left outside and has blown away in a gale.

This same gale kicked the front door in

and is raging through the corridors and rooms of our lives.

I am inclined to hide under the kitchen table

I will take snacks and a blanket

Please let me know when it is over

Even then, I may not believe you.

It may take me some time to trust

That this storm will really pass.

It is likely that we have something we can learn from the rain, from the storm. In order to do so we may need to be prepared to come out from under the table and stand out in the cold and feel the rain. Salt of the Sound: ‘Bring the Rain’.