A burden was weighing heavy on me as I walked home from dinner. I had no clue what I would write about today. I was empty. I picked up some roasted peanuts and made my way back to the hotel. As I was walking, a furious bolt of lightning struck the mountains in the distance. The low rumble of a heavy rainfall quickly came over the town. People became frantic. The sound of the rain was so aggressive and abundant, but it hadn’t yet reached us. I quickened my pace. At the bottom of the hill faint shouting could be heard. Within a few seconds, the sounds grew louder and were eventually drowned out by the weather. Massive raindrops and balls of hail came roaring up towards me. They were firing into cars, windows, rooftops, people, dogs, anything in their path. A street-food vendor at a deconstructed stall reached out and pulled me in. We were protected overhead by a thin blue tarp. The storm immediately found us. I had to pick my legs up and lay across the metal table with the gas stove to be fully covered. There was a constant loud vibration from the tarp above me as water and hail pellets created a pool in the center. It sagged low above my head, and I could feel the cold permeating through. I leaned my head down and away so that it wasn’t in direct contact with the glacier. The tarp began to overflow, and a thick stream of clear and freezing water poured out of a weak point in between me and my friend. The rain was pouring down consistently and was amplified in short bursts. I watched the ground ripple and swell beneath the exploding layers of raindrops and hail. People sprinted by with umbrellas searching for a more suitable shelter. When they passed, the little pebbles of hail would bounce hard off the umbrella and into my body. I had to turn and pull the hood of my jacket across my face to prevent the ice from finding its way to my skin. The streets quickly flooded and a raging river formed between our structure and the high ground of the road. There was no escape. Thunder and lightning dominated the sky above us. I became aware of the fact that I was laying on top of a sheet metal structure only covered by thin fabric, and immediately chose not to think of it again. It’s safer that way. I was dug in. I offered warm roasted peanuts to my survival partner, and we began to talk about our lives, shouting over the loud rain. He told me that he is a father of four, and that he’s 37 years old. I couldn’t believe it. Our age is not so different, but our lives are worlds apart. I can easily fathom being 37 years old, but I can’t imagine being a father of four. Maybe that’s a feeling one can only know when the day comes. After chatting for a long while, we sat in silence and waited the storm out.
You better come on into my kitchen, 'Cause it's going to be raining outdoors. There's a cold wind blowin' Leave's tremblin' on the trees Don't you know that good girl? Yeah, she's leavin' me. You better come on into my kitchen, 'Cause it's going to be raining outdoors.
Love the Allman Brothers reference ❤️