All Lit Up

Earlier this week, we had a round of thunderstorms pass through during the early morning hours. I remember waking up just before 4am and hearing the sound of thunder nearby. I lazily considered getting up to unplug my computer but could not convince my body to follow through.

At 4:08am, I bolted out of bed as lightning either struck the house or something close to it. In rapid succession, I heard the zizzer, opened my eyes to see all the lights in the house flash on then off again and heard a clap of thunder that seemed loud enough to be something falling on my roof.

Lightning has made the phones ring before and one time, blue sparks connected my fingers to the truck door handle I was reaching for just before a bolt hit a tree about fifty yards from me, but this was the first time the electricity was close enough or potent enough to turn on lights that had been physically turned off.

I would have thought it was my imagination if it were not for a call from a neighbor who said they were worried because my house was completely lit up for a brief second during the height of the storm.

Personally, lightning scares me. I enjoy watching thunderstorms and am in awe of the power they can unleash but I have had a few close brushes with lightning that have gone beyond coincidence.

In this case, no damage was done. No major appliances nor the computers were fried. The lights went back off and the storm moved on. Only the eeriness of what had happened lingered.