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Rachel Katz's avatar

Update from my dad: he read this and told me he didn't realize at the time that I was scared 😂

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Josh Plumeau's avatar

My father and I had a somewhat similar experience when I was about 13, on a small lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada. The storm came seemingly out of nowhere and I still remember how terrified I was. We ended up on a island about 20 ft. long and 10 ft. wide, huddled under our canoe as it raged above us. I cannot write beautifully about the experience the way that you have yours, but it felt then and feels now like one of the small but defining points of my life, as my father stoically rode it out while I quaked in fear. Thank you so much, yet again, for accessing and sharing your life in a way that opens up your readers lives as well.

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Rachel Katz's avatar

Thanks for the kind words Josh, and it sounds like your experience was very similar. I agree that it was a small moment but defining.

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Nick Ang's avatar

Yeesh that is quite horrifying! And sad to say, I did have one of those moments of terrible decision-making that turned magical... magical that we didn't die. The short version is that I drove through a mountain forest in my tall-ass campervan thinking it was OK, until I realised it wasn't, and had to keep going. The narrow mud paths almost had our lives. The long version is its own post... https://nickang.substack.com/p/we-nearly-died

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Rachel Katz's avatar

Looking forward to checking it out, and I hope it was also a little bit magical in some other way besides not dying!

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Nick Ang's avatar

Hah, I wish it was but it honestly was just terrifying all the way until sweet relief. If I squint my mind's eye maybe I could see that our emergence from the darkness of the forest's foliage into the sunlight was kind of magical. Maybe!

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Becca McArthur's avatar

This was gorgeous. ♥️

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Rachel Katz's avatar

Thanks so much Becca :)

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Chuck Kallenbach's avatar

Beautiful, thank you. We spent a night watching our tiny tent billowed by the noisy thunderstorm echoing around the mountains, but that's nowhere near what you went through.

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Rachel Katz's avatar

Similar vibes...being in the thick of it! I guess that's what wilderness camping is all about.

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Taylor Gage's avatar

Beautiful. I just wrote about the terror and awe of thunderstorms myself, and had a very similar takeaway as you. Being vulnerable and exposed in the heart of these storms is really quite an experience.

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Rachel Katz's avatar

Thanks for reading Taylor. It's an entirely unique experience indeed!

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