We are having a pretty big monsoon thunderstorm here tonight. With wind, thunder, lightening and rain....which tends to be a little unusual here in the desert. Often we get wind storms and some thunder and lightening, but usually the rain never hits the ground.
My two sweet doggies don't like the thunder! And they look to their mommy for protection and "comfort from the storm". Tonight as I was comforting them, I told them "it's okay, it is just the angels bowling"....."there's no reason to be afraid of that!"
Okay, now move beyond analyzing the logic behind me trying to use something like this to comfort my dogs and think about it. This was what my parents told me when I was a child and afraid of the thunder. I can remember them being in my room in the night during a thunderstorm and when I jumped from a loud boom of thunder, them holding me tighter and saying "WOW...that must have been a strike!"
Now I have talked to several of my friends about this story and none of them were told this story of the angels bowling when they were young. I do remember one of my friends telling me some other story that she was told growing up. I don't remember what that story was though...but obviously it was not nearly as convincing or believable as the bowling scenario.
My husband told his children, from a prior marriage, the same story when they were young. But he does not remember if his parents told him such a story when he was young, so maybe this story got handed down to him and his children from his ex-wife.
So now as I sit here on the couch, joined by each of my fur babies, one on each side....I wonder.....
How many others were told the angels bowling story? What other stories are out there?
While I don't expect everyone, sadly even a majority, to explain things like this to their dogs as I have, what is it that you tell your children to "comfort them from the storm"?
For me....I'm good with the angels bowling theory. It worked for me.....it seems to comfort my dogs.....so I think Willow will hear about more than one "strike from the angels in heaven" before she grows out of it too!
