Lightning Striking Again

I will admit it, I have a couple of phobias. One of the more prominent is a fear of lightning. I didn’t always have this fear. It was really developed and turned into the monster fear that it currently is a few years ago in Boston. My friend Lindsay and I went for a nice harbor cruise and BAM! our boat was struck by lightning. A piece of the mast fell down onto the deck and I was freaked out. I believe it was that same summer that my family went to Florida. We were at Disney’s Epcot Center, just watching some performers when BAM! they were nearly struck by lightning. I went for a hike in Yellowstone when BAM! lightning was striking the hill (I got down that hill SO fast!) I have come to the conclusion since then that lightning is out to get me. It really takes all of my power to not crawl under the nearest bed during a thunder storm. So, when we had a small thunder storm go through last Saturday night, I was unhappy. Well, unhappy is quite the understatement. I was miserable. I hate the way you can see lightning through your eyelids, so that it is impossible to go to sleep. The thunder was pretty amazing too. I wanted to close my window to help dampen the noise a little, but was too afraid to touch the metal window frame, knowing that the moment I did I would be struck! There was one lightning that I swore could have hit our house, or at least the neighbors. It was one of those where you don’t have the opportunity to even think about counting “1 Mississippi” before the thunder comes.

Now, with my history, it wouldn’t be too ridiculous to think that I was over exaggerating about the closeness of the strike. I thought that myself, until Matt called me at work yesterday to tell me that the Power company was working on the pole next to our house, because it had been struck by lightning! HA! Some fears are justified – and I really do think that lightning is out to get me.

Here is a picture out my bedroom window of the pole that was hit. You can't tell it was a victim of nature, but you can see how close it was.