The thunder rolls across the sky, carried by angry black clouds. Heavy rain pelts at my windows and thuds on the tin, which is my roof. Wind rips through the trees, bending their branches beyond their limits. I watch as the lightning strikes the ground and with a bang the power to my home is gone.
The third blackout in as many weeks, but unlike the storms before, this time I am prepared.I move from room to room, frantically igniting candles that illuminate my path towards the next. I am thankful that the children had made their way to bed some time ago as weather like this always has the ability to rattle their immature nerves. The sky groans again and another loud bang makes me jump. The fury of the storm is upon us.
The candles burn, filling the room with a soft light and creating shadows that dance upon the walls. Normally this setting would of been ideally romantic but as I sit here watching the flames flicker while anticipating the next heart jumping clap of thunder, I feel anything but romantic. The word "it's different out here", echo in my ears. It’s a statement that I have heard spoken many times from the mouths of the locals. I could never make sense of it, but tonight, with only a dull light as my guide and my thoughts for company, I couldn't agree more!
I have met and spoken to many people that reside in this town. Some of these people work and live off the land, some drive hundreds of kilometres daily to earn their bread, others own small businesses and some, just like me have taken to this way of life in hope of building a better future for their children. I have listened to their stories, tales of heartache and memories of the past, watched their expressions as they speak and observed the years of worry and hardship upon their faces. There are no complaints, no whining words escape their mouths, they love what they do, they work hard for the country the love but mostly they couldn’t picture their lives anywhere else! Like water off a ducks back, the residents of this town, take it as it comes! In the world I was bought up in, that certainly is different!
While our short 6 month stint in this town has provided us with many inconveniences, we have not yet experienced what true country living has to offer. Driving long distances for a simple loaf of bread infuriates me, the loss of water in a blackout tints my cheeks a fiery red in annoyance, and the sight of yet another mouse, spider or ant making a home within mine turns my blood cold, but as the months pass, I have come to realise that in comparison to what many others living here have endued, I have not yet earned the right to let anger manifest inside me or negative comments roll off tongue.
The frequent storms have not affected my livelihood, the bugs are not eating at my crops nor are the distances I travel done in a tractor traveling at snails pace in scorching heat; Yes, when I really think about it, a furious storm that has left me blind, is nothing to be annoyed about.
I gulp away my fear of the dark and my burning desire for the electricity to be restored. Walking from room to room, checking on my children who sleep soundly in their beds, I am again reminded of how fortunate I am and how unaffected I have actually been by living life in the country.
So the next time I feel that the storm is too furious for me to face, I will endeavor to see beyond the darkness of the clouds and look for the rainbow that is, life in the country.
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