In the beginning

Mom was always afraid of thunder and lightning until the stormy night she was in labor.  Dad was in Marfa,Texas, on base waiting to hear that he was a father. His commanding officer had told him, “You were there at the laying of the keel, you don’t have to be there for the launching.” In other words, Dad would get his leave once he got word that his wife had given birth. So Mom went through labor without him. Outside the hospital, the storm was raging, and Mom was frightened until she unexpectedly thought, “I am becoming a mother now, and I don’t want my baby to feel my fear, so I am not going to be afraid of thunder and lightning any more.” For us, that was a bigger boom than any thunderclap would produce that night.