My friend Colleen collects pictures of funny or strange signs from all over. Now that I know, I’m always on the lookout for them and while I’ve taken pictures of some good ones overseas, there are plenty here at home. Last weekend, I had to travel no further than the next county over to see this sign.

It’s not funny but it did strike me as strange. Who’s dumb enough to stay outside during a thunderstorm? Obviously, the fact that a sign exists, people are, or they wouldn’t have had to post one. While I’m pretty easy-going on most stuff, I am quite obsessive about getting shelter when a thunderstorm hits. This stems back to an incident as a child.

Every summer we would on vacation to Fenwick Island for two weeks. It was a lot less built up then with little to do but to  hit the beach, walk to the corner store or at night, lie in bed and count how long it took the lighthouse light to go around (to the count of 17 if anyone cares). Despite being on vacation, we would go to church. Yep church. While on vacation. You can say a lot about Catholics, and one thing is true – we are good about going to Mass, no matter where we are. The closet Catholic Church was near Rehoboth so my parents would sweeten the deal with the promise of pizza at Grotto’s or a walk on the boardwalk.

One week we went and at the end of Mass, the priest asked everyone to keep a family in their prayers. Two sisters were walking on the beach during a thunderstorm and one was hit, split in half and killed. Split in half. If you don’t think something like that sticks in your head, you are wrong. I remember the moment of hearing that so clearly and my sister and I have shared the story many times with our kids when we’ve been at the beach. We hear thunder and poof! – back to the beach house. You can imagine the eye rolls when we start in telling the story again.

You don’t realize these reminders are that important until you have to put them in action. Each year while we are at the beach, we review riptide safety. In twenty years we never used it, but last year, when a number of us got caught in one, it came in handy. So parents, keep nagging. It pays off.

This week my friend Mary, a teacher, who is currently undergoing chemo, wrote about how sweet the kids in her class have been. One little guy is the hand sanitizer police – making sure everyone is fully covered with hand sanitizer, while another is erasing problems he’s already completed just so he can spend time with her as she “helps” him with the problems. I took these stories as signs that there is still hope for the human race because lately, I’ve been doubting it. We spend time and energy worrying about what individuals are sporting down under, so to speak, and what bathrooms they should use. We are worried about how everyone else is living their lives, instead of focusing on making our own meaningful. So, in the midst of all this craziness, I take comfort in these small signs of hope. And just like my thunderstorm sign, I didn’t have to travel far to get the message.