---

She steps out of the shower, refreshed, and hears the roar of thunder outside. She wrings the water out of her hair as the rain splashes down, pounding on the roof, the window, the sidewalk, the trees, the street.

The thunder rumbles. Long, low, loud. She hears herself in it. Her voice, loud and strong, steady now within the storm. Her echoing, powerful voice, a response to the electric surge of the lightning blast tearing through the sky.

She wraps her hair in a towel, twisting its length between layers of cotton terry like a brunette volcano. The thunder rumbles. The rain keeps the time.

She dries her face, her shoulders, her body, her legs. Behind her ears. Underneath her breasts. Between each of her toes. Sheltered from the rain, standing inside a barrier from the weather, she has complete control over the water that touches her body. The thunder rolls and she sighs, recognizing the internalized power retained within her chest and her mind with each sustained, echoing vibration.

Mindful. Grounded. Powerful.