I just finished making lunch and handed my husband Steven a plate with a turkey and swiss sandwich on it. I gave my son Alex his plate and grabbed mine as we all headed into the dining room.

Once we were seated I looked over at Steven and proudly announced, “I stomped on a spotted lanternfly today while Alex and I were on a walk!”

Steven looked surprised. “You saw one?” He opened the jar of pickles, took one and handed me the jar.

I nodded as I put the pickle on my plate and passed the jar to Alex. “First one I’ve ever seen.”

Alex looked over at me. “I couldn’t believe you knew what it was.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I put my napkin on my lap. “Me either.” I looked back at Steven. “We were walking at the park when I looked down and saw this strange looking bug.” I looked over at Alex. “It was pretty big, wasn’t it?”

Alex nodded. “It was a big bug.” he agreed.

“Anyway, I thought it was a spotted lanternfly so I tried to stomp on it but it leap away.”

“Wait.” Alex sounded confused. “You thought it was a spotted lanternfly?”

“Well, I knew for sure it was one when it did its leap and I could see the red part on its inner wings.”

“So you were ready to stomp on a bug before you knew for sure?” Steven asked.

“But I missed.” I argued. “So it doesn’t count.” I reached over for the bag of potato chips and poured some on my plate. “Anyway once I was sure I stomped away.”

“Are you sure that’s what you’re suppose to do?” Alex asked as I handed him the bag.

“Yup.” I nodded my head. “I even called the park when I got home to let them know I saw one there.”

“What did they say?”

“That there’s been a few sightings but they’re such an invasive bug that they’re asking people to step on them when they do see them.” I looked over at Alex. “So I did my part for nature today.” I smiled as I took a bite from my chip.

“Exactly what is it that they’re eating?” Steven asked taking a slice of tomato from the plate to put on his sandwich.

“Well, they say they’re doing a lot of damage to different trees and crops.”

I looked over at Alex. “I know it seems a little counter-intutive to be out on a nature walk and then stomp on a bug.” I sighed.

“Well, if they’re damaging crops…” Alex said.

“Hey, when I heard one of the things they were going after was grapevines that was all I needed to know.” I looked back over at Alex. “I know when you hear grapevines you’re thinking of jelly.” I pointed my thumb to my chest. “But when I hear grapevines I immediately think about the wine industry and no bug is going to mess with that!”

Steven started to laugh. “Exactly.”

Alex just shook his head as I picked up my sandwich.

“Nope.” I was shaking my head, too. “Nobody is messing with that.”

I pulled my bathrobe a little tighter before I sat down on the couch and grabbed my laptop.

“Okay, let’s see if she sent me the link.” I said to myself as I opened my mail. Sure enough my sister, Liz had sent me the link to her church service.

I settled back in the cushions and reached for my cup of tea. Taking a sip I waited for the service to start.

When I’d visited my sister a few weeks back, I’d gone to a Sunday service with her. She was a member of the choir and I’d wanted to hear her sing. The last time I’d heard her sing was when she was living in New York and was one of the main soloists for a church on Lexington Ave. I’d try to go into the city a few times a year to hear her sing. But now that she’d moved to North Carolina I’d missed listening to her.

Well, I enjoyed the service so much that when I got home from my visit I began virtually attending church with her.

I took another sip of tea as I watched the choir file into the church. I could see the service was about to begin.

That’s when my son Alex came into the room. I put my finger to my lips and whispered. “I’m in church.”

Alex eyebrows went up and he started to laugh. “In your bathrobe?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s not interactive. They can’t see me.” I watched as the congregation stood to sing the first anthem. I put my finger to my lips again. “Let me know if you can hear Aunt Lizzy when she sings?” I whispered.

This was one of the reasons I liked her church so much. They had a lot of music.

The anthem started and sure enough you could hear my sister as she sang. I looked over at Alex and smiled. “Do you hear her?”

Alex nodded as he headed into the kitchen to make some coffee.

I was humming along with the anthem, amazed at how many of the songs I’d recognized over the past few services.

Several minutes later it was time for the choir to sing. This was when the camera panned out and I could see my sister as she sung with the group. “Do you want to see Aunt Lizzy?” I called to Alex.

Alex came back into the living room. I moved the laptop so that he could see. “She’s right there!” I pointed to her.

“Yup. There she is.” He sat down on the other side of the couch.

That’s when my husband Steven came into the room. “Anyone interested in some breakfast?” he asked.

I put my finger to my lips and whispered. “Not right now. We’re in church.”

Alex looked over at me and shook his head. “I’m not in church.” He got up and headed to the kitchen. “And I’m definitely interested in some breakfast.”

“I’m making some eggs and sausage.” Steven followed Alex into the kitchen.

“Hey, can you save me some?” I called. “I’d like to have some when the service let’s out.”

Steven poked his head around the corner. “Why don’t I just bring you a plate and you can eat it while your watching?”

I cringed. “I don’t know. That seems kind of disrespectful.”

Steven started to laugh. “You’re curled up on the couch in your pajamas, talking through half the service!”

I cringed again. “You’re right.” I whispered as I adjusted the laptop. “I’ll make my own breakfast after the service.”

I had just walked into the laundry room, ready to switch a load of clothes from the washing machine to the dryer when I realized I was standing in a puddle of water in my bare feet.

“NOOOO!”

I could see that it wasn’t just a puddle but the entire floor was covered in a sudsy mess.

I quickly gathered the load of unwashed towels that was supposed to go into the washer and began mopping up the mess.

Moments later my son Alex was standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“The washer broke!” I wasn’t making much progress with the towels.

Alex looked over his shoulder. “It’s wet out here too.”

“What?” I came to the doorway and looked past him. I could see the water had seeped under one of the area rugs which was now soaked. “Oh, for the love of…” I grabbed my phone and called my husband Steven. He picked up on the second ring.

“Morning! How’s your day going?” he asked.

“It’s a disaster!” I cried. “The washing machine broke and there’s water everywhere!”

“Calm down. I’ll send one of my guys over to see how bad it is.”

“It’s bad!” I was looking around the laundry room for anything else that would sop up the mess.

“Don’t worry. Someone will be there within the hour.” His voice was calming me down.

“Okay, thanks.”

“What I need you to do now is call the appliance store and see if they have any washing machines in stock.”

“What?” That made me stop in my tracks. “What do you mean if?”

“A lot of my clients are having trouble getting appliances because of Covid. Everything is backed up.”

“No, no, no, no!” I was shaking my head and looked over at Alex who had a look of concern on his face.

“I’ll send you my contact at the appliance store. Just give them a call.”

I hung up the phone and looked at Alex. “We’re doomed.”

Alex laughed. “What did Dad say?”

“That there might not be any washing machines available right now.”

Alex eyebrows went up. “That’s not good.”

“Nope.” Just then my phone dinged. It was Steven’s contact number at the appliance store.

I took a deep breath and dialed. When I got his contact on the phone I explained my plight.

I could hear him sigh. “Well…”

“I’ll take anything!” I cried. “I just want something that washes clothes. I don’t need anything fancy. In fact I prefer low end, less things that can go wrong.”

“Oh, well we do have a few machines like that still in the showroom.”

“Perfect! I’ll be right over!” I looked over at Alex. “We’re in luck!”

Alex laughed. “So I hear.” He pushed a wet towel with his foot moving it closer to the middle of the puddle. “Good thing you like things low end.”

“Hey,” I looked around the laundry room. “What do I care what the washing machine looks like.” I began dropping some of the soaking wet towels into a laundry basket. “It’s not like I’m going to be bringing anyone down here to entertain.”

Alex nodded his head. “True.”

“Besides your Dad loves my frugal side.” I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders. “So it’s a win-win for everyone!”

“Okay, I’m going!” I called to my husband Steven. I’d just hung up the phone with my sister Liz, who now lived in North Carolina.

I was sitting in the living room when Steven popped his head around the corner from the kitchen. “I thought you said you couldn’t go.”

“I didn’t think I could.” I got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen. “But Liz’s friend Rita is driving down and it seems like a no brainier to join her.”

Steven nodded his head. “So, when are you leaving?”

“Day after tomorrow.” I leaned against the counter-top crossing my legs at the ankles.

“How long are you going to be gone?”

“A whole week!” I began ticking off, on my fingers, all the things I needed to get done before I left. “I need to water all the plants, change the hummingbird feeders, get all the laundry caught up, figure out what clothes I need to bring…” I was scanning the kitchen when our son Alex came into the room.

“Your Mom’s headed out on a road trip.” Steven said as Alex went over to the cabinet to get out the coffee.

“Nice.” He pulled out the coffee and a mug, putting them both on the counter. “Where are you going?”

“North Carolina to visit Aunt Lizzy.”

“That’s great. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her.”

“I know! I’m really starting to look forward to it.”

Alex went to the refrigerator and grabbed the gallon of milk off the top shelf. He shook it to show that it only had an inch left in the container. “I guess this needs to go on the grocery list.”

I groaned. “I’ll need to go grocery shopping to get you guys stocked up for the week.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Steven said. “We’ll do it.”

“Really?” I was relieved to take something off my to-do list.

“Sure.” Steven looked over at Alex. “It’s not like we’re going to be cooking.”

Alex laughed. “Do we have frozen pizza downstairs?”

I nodded. “We do.”

“Well, then we’re all set.” Alex put the milk back in the refrigerator.

“Sounds good to me!” Steven agreed.

“Awesome!” I turned around to head to our bedroom. “Now I just have to figure out what I need to pack.”

As I headed down the hall I could hear Alex ask Steven. “We aren’t really going to be eating frozen pizza all week, are we?”

“No, we’ll just order out.”

“Hey! I heard that!” I came back out to the kitchen. “Why is it I’m the only one who does any cooking around here?”

Alex and Steven shrugged their shoulders.

“Don’t you want to start packing?” Steven asked. “You only have a few day before you leave.”

“That’s true.” I turned around to head back down the hall.

“Nice way to change the subject.” Alex whispered to Steven.

“I can hear you!” I turned back around.

“Road trip!” they said in unison.

“I know!” I smiled as I turned around to head to our bedroom. “I’m so excited!”

I was out on our back porch sitting in my rocking chair, leaned forward with my elbows on my knees, patiently waiting for the Monarch butterfly to come out of its chrysalis. “You can do it!” I cheered it on.

My son Alex had walked out on the porch. “Who are you talking to?”

“My little friend here.” I pointed to the chrysalis on the back of our Adirondack chair. The day before it had been a shimmering light green but now it was almost black, which meant it was ready to emerge. “I’ve been waiting for the past hour and nothing was happening, but now…” I pointed again showing him the small wiggling that was happening “It’s going to be any moment now. I can feel it!” I couldn’t hold back the excitement I was feeling.

Alex came over and together we watched as the chrysalis split open and the monarch came out. “Oh my gosh, will you look at that!”

The Monarch was like a Transformer toy as it’s wings began to unfold and it struggled to hold onto the back of the chair.

“Careful little buddie!” I cried as I watched it struggle some more. It’s wings were wet and it needed to find a safe place to dry off before it could fly.

I scanned the porch. “I wonder where he can hunker down without drawing attention to himself.”

I looked over at my bird feeders, usually a happy sight for me when it was filled with entertaining birds but now, all I could see were potential predators to my new little friend.

I looked back at the butterfly as it staggered to the top of the chair stumbling around like a baby just learning to walk.

“He’s so beautiful.” I sighed as I leaned back in the chair. I looked over at Alex. “What are your plans for today?”

“I’ve got some work to do on my computer.” he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m at the end of a project so I’m just finishing a few things.”

I nodded my head.

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

I looked over at the butterfly then back at Alex with my head slightly tilted and my eyebrows arched. “Guess?”

Alex started to laugh. “How long do you think it will take him to dry off and fly away?”

I shook my head. “Who knows? But until he does he needs someone watching his back.”

Alex was still laughing as he walked over to the back door. “Exactly how it is in nature.”

“Hey! What can I say! When you come out of your chrysalis on my porch you get extra amenities! All right?” I looked back at my wobbly new friend. “No worries little man. You take your time.”

I was pulling a baking sheet from the drawer when my son Alex came into the kitchen.

“Are you starting dinner?” he asked as he went to the cabinet and took out a glass.

“Yup!” I put the baking sheet on the counter and went to get the roll of tin foil. “We’re having your favorite!” Ripping off a piece of foil, I lined the baking sheet, then went to the refrigerator and pulled out our dinner. “We’re having chicken nuggets!” I said as I held up the packages for him to see.

Alex looked surprised. “Wow! We haven’t had those since I was a kid.”

“I know!” I smiled as I reached over to turn on the oven. “These were always your favorite.” I unwrapped the package and dumped them on the baking sheet.

“When I was four.” Alex looked suspicious. “What made you decide to make this tonight?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I was in the store trying to decide what to make for dinner when I saw these and I just started to reminisce.”

Alex still didn’t look convinced.

“So, you have a choice.” I went to the cabinet and pulled out two packages. “You can have either instant mashed potatoes or boxed macaroni and cheese.”

Alex didn’t look very enthusiastic. “You’re not making homemade?”

I shook my head. “Nope. We’re keeping it old school.”

Alex took the box of macaroni and cheese. “I guess this one.” He put the box on the counter.

“Excellent choice!” I reached into the drawer to get a pot out. “Do you want to get the carrot sticks out of the fridge for me?” I was filling the pot with water.

“Sure.” Alex took the bag of baby carrots out and put them on the counter.

That’s when my husband Steven came in the front door. “I’m home!” he called.

“We’re out in the kitchen.” I called back.

He came in carrying his cooler and placed it on the floor. “This looks interesting.” He was looking at the pan with the chicken nuggets on it.

The oven beeped, letting me know it was done preheating. “Perfect!” I said as I put them in the oven. “Ten minutes from now dinner will be ready!” I smiled as I looked at both of them. “Why don’t you pick out the dipping sauces you want to use.”

Steven picked up the box on macaroni and cheese. “You’re not making homemade?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “I decided on having a retro dinner.” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “It’s going to bring back so many memories!”

“Okay, I’m calling it.” Steven put the box back on the counter. “You didn’t feel like cooking tonight so you picked these up instead.”

“What?” Alex looked surprised.

I sighed. “Okay, fine. I went to the store and didn’t really feel like cooking anything. So, when I saw the nuggets were buy one and get one free, I was sold.”

Alex looked over at Steven. “How did you know?”

Steven shook his head as he began unloading his cooler. “She was selling it way too hard.” He looked back at me and laughed. “Retro dinner.”

“Okay you two, go pick out your dipping sauce.” The water was almost to a boil as I opened the box of macaroni and cheese and dumped the elbows in. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”

I heard my son Alex in the kitchen refilling his glass with water.

“Hey, Alex!” I called out to him. “I’m finished! Do you want to see?”

Seconds later, Alex was standing in the doorway, taking a sip from his glass.

“TaDa!” I cried as I moved my hands over the finished puzzle like a game show model. “I’m done!”

“Wow!” Alex came into the room to get a better look. “That was fast.”

“Well,” I had to laugh. “You gave me this two years ago for Christmas, so I’m going to say not that fast.”

“But you only took it out a few days ago and started working on it again.”

I stood back to admire my work. “I know I asked you to get me the puzzle mat so I could roll it up and put it away when I was working at the dining room table. But that wasn’t working for me.” I looked over at Alex. “I think the secret to finally getting it done was having a table where I could leave it out all the time. This way I could stop by and put a few pieces together, move on to something else, then go back and get some more done.”

Alex nodded. “I remember when you first took it out you thought asking for a thousand piece puzzle had been a mistake.”

“Well now I don’t.” I smiled as I sat down in my chair and began rubbing my fingers over the smooth surface of the puzzle, making sure to tap down any loose pieces.

Alex leaned against the door-jam. “So are you going to glue the back of it and save it?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I thought about that.” I couldn’t help but sigh. “But really where would I put it?” I looked around the room. “It isn’t like I’m going to frame it and hang it up.”

“So what are you going to do with it?”

I took out my phone. “I was thinking about taking a picture of it.” I stood up on the chair I’d been sitting on to get a better shot. “This way I can have the memory of the finished puzzle but still be able to box them up and maybe find someone else who likes to do puzzles and we can do a puzzle swap!”

“Puzzle swap?”

“Hey, these puzzles aren’t cheap!” I snapped the picture then checked to see if I’d gotten the shot I liked. “Nope.” I hit erase and handed the phone to Alex. “Can you try and get a better shot?”

I stepped down from the chair and Alex climbed up. “So until you find someone to swap puzzles with, what are you planning on doing?”

Alex handed me the phone to see if I like the picture he’d snapped.

“It’s perfect! Thanks!”

“No problem.” Alex stepped back down and picked up his glass again. “Are you going to get a new puzzle?”

I smiled as I put the phone down. “Well, I have to admit, I was getting this one done so quickly that I ordered a new one a few days ago. It’s suppose to arrive today.”

Just then we heard the doorbell ring. I looked over at Alex and couldn’t hide my surprise. “Wouldn’t that be perfect timing if that’s my new puzzle getting dropped off?”

Alex nodded then laughed as he reached over and turned off the light. “That would be perfect timing.”

My son Alex and I had just returned from a trip to a local farmer’s market where we’d loaded up on all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. As I was unloading the bags I grabbed the block of cheese we’d also picked up.

“We have to try this right now.” I said as I moved the bags aside and opened the silverware drawer to get a knife.

“You don’t want to finish putting everything away first?” He placed the tomatoes on the butcher block next to the plate with several avocados on it.

“Nope.” I ripped off a section of paper towel and placed it on the counter. “I’ve been thinking about what this was going to taste like the whole way home!” I looked at the package. “Bacon and jalapeño in a white Australian cheddar cheese!” I pointed to the crocodile on the package. “I like the message on the back that says ‘careful it bites’!”

“I wonder if Australian cheese will taste different then ours?” Alex went to get the crackers out of the cabinet.

“We’ll find out in a minute.” I cut open the package and held it up to my nose. “You can sure smell the bacon!” I passed over over for Alex to take a sniff.

He nodded his head. “Sure can.”

I placed it on the paper towel and began to cut a few small pieces, while Alex put some crackers next to them. Scooping up a cracker and placing the cheese on it I held it up.

“Okay, here goes…” I took a bite and waited for the heat to hit me.

Alex did the same.

While we were chewing Alex picked up the package and began reading the ingredients. “It’s got red and green jalapeños along with crushed red peppers.”

I nodded as I swallowed my bite and looked over at Alex. “I’ve got to say I was expecting it to be hotter.”

Alex nodded. “I thought so too, but it’s still really good.”

“Oh absolutely!” I began putting the rest of the groceries away. “You know what would be fun?”

Alex was getting a plastic bag out of the drawer to put the cheese away. “What?”

“What if every time we went to the farmer’s market we picked out a new cheese to try?”

Alex laughed as he opened the refrigerator to was put the new cheese away. He then began pulling out bags of shredded cheese and blocks of cheddar and Swiss, along with the packages of deli cheese I’d purchased a few days before, piling them all on the counter. “Are you sure we need more cheese?”

“Hey!” I went over to the cheese pile he’d created and began explaining. “I’m making chicken parmesan tomorrow.” I said as I tossed the bag of shredded mozzarella back in the bin. “And this is for tacos tonight!” I tossed the bags of shredded Mexican mix next to it. “These are for sandwiches all week!” I tossed the Swiss and provolone back in. “And these…” I held the blocks of cheddar and Havarti with dill then shrugged my shoulders. “Okay fine.” I tossed them back in the refrigerator. “I might possibly have a cheese problem.”

“I’ll say.” Alex patted me on the shoulder as he walked by. “You might want to see if they have a 12 step program for that.”

“Not funny!” I called as I watched him walk down the hall to his room and waited until he closed his door. That’s when I tip-toed back to the refrigerator and quietly opened the door. Pulling out the newest block of cheese, I placed it on the counter and slowly opened the silverware drawer, looking over my shoulder to see if anyone heard me. “I do not have a problem.” I whispered under my breath as I cut another slice from the block.

“Come on, little guys! Keep eating!” I was on my back porch, kneeling down next to a swamp milkweed plant, one of two plants that a client had given to my husband Steven.

“This is going to be so great!” I cried as I tipped a leaf back to show Steven where a tiny monarch caterpillar was busy munching away on the leaf.

I looked up at Steven and had to laugh. “I never thought I’d be so happy seeing something eating one of my plants!”

Steven turned another leaf over to point out an egg that was glued to the back of the leaf. “My client told me there was a bunch of eggs on this plant.”

“And caterpillars now, too!”

I leaned back on my heels and gently turned the pot. “Oh, there’s another one!” I pointed to one that was inching up the stem. “He’s headed for a new leaf.” I started to laugh again. “He’s a chubby little one!”

I got up and went over to the rocking chair. “That was so nice of your client to give those to us.” I sat down. “What got you talking about monarch’s with her?”

Steven sat down in the Adirondack chair. “After I was done taking notes for the estimate she showed me her garden and all of her milkweed plants.” He reached around and adjusted the pillow behind his head. “I told her that when you and Alex are on your walks you’re always coming home telling me how many monarchs you see.” He pointed to the milkweed plants. “Next thing I know I have two plants in my van!”

“Well, I love them!” I could see the biggest caterpillar from my rocking chair. “Just think in a few weeks we’ll have monarch butterflies all over the back yard!”

Steven laughed. “You do realize that they’re not going to stay in our yard.” he looked over at me. “Right?”

I leaned back in my chair. “We’ll see about that.” I picked up my phone and began to type.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m looking up plants that monarchs like.” I waved my hand around. “If we load our deck with what they like, they’re going to stay.” I said in a matter of fact way.

Our son Alex came out on the porch. “What are you guys up to?”

Steven looked over at him. “Your Mom is trying to figure out a way to force the butterflies to stay in our yard.”

“Not force!” I cried. “Entice.” I looked over at Alex and held up my phone. “I’m looking for ways to entice them to stay.”

Alex shook his head and he went over to the glider to sit down. “You know you two have the weirdest conversations.”

“Hey! What’s wrong with wanting the yard filled with monarchs?”

Alex looked over at Steven. “You know she’s going to get obsessed with this, right?”

“Hey! Who says I’m going to get obsessed?” I got up to go check on the caterpillars again. I could see the chubby one had found a new leaf. “That’s right little one. You keep munching away.”
Steven looked over at Alex and began nodding his head. “Yup. Completely obsessed.”

It was almost dusk and I could hear the rumblings of thunder off in the distance. “Oh boy! A thunderstorm!”

I looked over at my husband Steven and our son Alex. “Do you guys want to go sit out on the porch and wait for it to come in?” I was looking out the kitchen door and could already see the droplets of rain hitting the wooden deck, quickly bouncing before settling into the small puddles that had begun to form. “It sounds like it’s going to be a good one.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not.”

“I’ll come out for a while.” Steven said as he opened the door for us.

I went over to my rocking chair and pulled it away from the edge of the porch so I didn’t get wet before I settled in and began to slowly rock. A quick flash of light had the trees in our back yard looking like it was daylight. “Oh, this is going to be a good one!”

Less then a second later there was a loud crack before the low rumbling of thunder, the kind that you could feel in your chest, rumbled on.

I looked over at Steven. “Yup, I was right! That was a good one!” By now the rain was starting to get heavier.

Alex leaned back in his chair. “I wanted to take a shower.”

I looked over at him. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm you can’t take a shower.”

“I know.”

Steven looked over at me. “I’ve taken showers in thunderstorms.”

I nodded my head sadly. “Well, I guess you’re just lucky you didn’t get hit.”

I looked over at Alex. “When I was growing up you weren’t supposed to use your land line phones either.”

“Seriously?” Alex started to laugh.

“I’m serious.” I held up my cell phone. “It’s not a problem using these but if you were on the house line and lighting struck the wires it could travel through the line and…” I snapped my finger. “you’re hit.”

Steven looked over at me. “So how many people do you know that got struck by lighting that way?”

I stopped to think about it for a moment. “I guess none.”

Steven laughed. “See!”

“See what?” Now I was confused. “I don’t know anyone that got struck that way because everyone knew not to take shower or use the phone during a thunderstorm!” I cried.

“Hey, guys.” Alex tried to get us to take our voices down a notch. “I’m not going to take a shower until the storm stops, so stop worrying.”

I looked over at Alex. “I’m glad you’re taking after me and being safe.” I pointed my thumb over to Steven. “And I’m glad you’re not being ridiculous like your Dad.”

“Hey!” Steven said but didn’t finish because a huge crack of thunder roared overhead shaking the whole house.

I jumped up from my rocking chair. “Well, I’m out of here!”

We were all headed for the back door as the wind picked up and the rain was coming in sideways getting us all wet. I looked over at Steven. “Bet you’re glad you weren’t in the shower for that one?”

Steven was right behind me. “Who needs a shower now? I’m drenched!”