A Storm Too Good to Pass Up

There was a massive thunderstorm today.  Full of rolling thunder and repeated lightning strikes and pouring rain.  It was classic Michigan and so fun to watch.  I was standing at my bedroom window enjoying it when I heard Christian yell from the living room, "This rain is awesome!"  I went in and found him standing by the window too.  "Wanna come outside with me?" he asked excitedly.  I scooped Peter up and out we went.  Peter didn't like getting rained on, though, so he and I, and eventually Bella, sat in the garage, just on the edge of the rain so he could feel it on his feet.  He really liked that.  He liked watching Christian too.  Christian went out and enjoyed it fully.  He switched back and forth between bike and on foot and made the most of the puddles and the downpour.  It was so fun.

The only sad part of the experience was when Benjamin came out to see the storm.  He saw Christian running around getting drenched and said, "That doesn't look like any fun at all."  That made me want to cry.  This is Benjamin - the boy who only a year or two ago was out there first in a storm like this, doing just what Christian was doing.  I remember when the two of them played in our flooded ditch out front for hours in the rain.  I remember when running across to our neighbor's flooded driveway and jumping around would lead him to laugh outloud.  This is the little boy who would roll around in the flooded puddles at the park year after year every spring.  Now he stood in the garage, disdainfully observing his brother doing that and then turned around and went back inside to his computer.  All day long, Benjamin finds no joy in anything other than the screen.  It makes me so sad.

The only other thing he seems to enjoy right now is motorcycling.  He will leave the screen if he can go motorcycling.  He and Kelly have gone up north for two days of cycling and he was very excited about it.  I just really miss the old Benjamin.  The fun, outdoor loving, athletic Benjamin.  Losing him makes me sad.  I really hope he enjoys our time up north in August.  There will be no screens and hopefully it'll remind him of how much fun the real world can be.