One of my hugest fears! When I was a young girl, I would sit out front on the porch with my Dad and watch the storms, revel in them no less, run and jump in puddles while storms were going on! Not now...not ever! If I had a basement that wasn't a dungeon (basement is under the oldest part of our house and is full of spiders and fun stuff!) I'd be in it. I don't know what it is that makes us so afraid of it? Could it be that lightning KILLS! Oh yah...that's it! I have had several innuendos with lightning since my early 20's and they were too close for comfort!
The first time was when I was on lunch from Park Business College and sitting in a little subshop on the corner of King & Mary. It was pouring, pouring, pouring and a cacophony of thunder was going on all around us, when suddenly, lightning hit the electric streetcar's cable and it slammed down onto the pavement in front of the window we were sitting at! A live wire, bouncing all around the sidewalk, throwing sparks off in every direction around it, is not conducive to my comfort level.
A couple years later, a lightning storm was going on all around the century home I was renting an apartment in on the upper story. Apparently, when you are that close to the lightning, you can actually "hear" it zooming down to crash into the earth. Who knew? This was an old two-story stone house and the lightning storm that night was coming down on all sides of the house! I was home alone. No Landlords (friends) on the main floor, no husband, no child...everyone gone. There were sparks coming out of the electrical outlets in every room and I thought for sure...this is it....I'm a goner. The lightning also hit a tree outside and split it and hit a chicken coop up the road, which had a resulting fire. What did I do? I went to the bottom of the stairs in the big front hall by the front door and prayed for my Dad to hurry up and pick me up and for the house not to catch fire. I was shaking like a leaf! I know....I'm a little sensitive to being hit by those strobes of light!
Aside from the lightning taking out our TV in our house a few years later, I've pretty much been able to hide from it, either on my own or behind my Husband. Now, I like to go play the guitar...really loudly...and sing....really loudly as well and block it out completely!
Fear really is a strange animal. Why do some people freak out at the sight of a spider or snake, yet run and dance in lightning? Why are some so afraid of driving, or flying, or getting up in front of people and making a speech and not other things? I think that in a past life, I must have had a bad experience with lightning, because it terrifies me!
Be safe! ....and oh yah....Knock on Wood!
The first time was when I was on lunch from Park Business College and sitting in a little subshop on the corner of King & Mary. It was pouring, pouring, pouring and a cacophony of thunder was going on all around us, when suddenly, lightning hit the electric streetcar's cable and it slammed down onto the pavement in front of the window we were sitting at! A live wire, bouncing all around the sidewalk, throwing sparks off in every direction around it, is not conducive to my comfort level.
A couple years later, a lightning storm was going on all around the century home I was renting an apartment in on the upper story. Apparently, when you are that close to the lightning, you can actually "hear" it zooming down to crash into the earth. Who knew? This was an old two-story stone house and the lightning storm that night was coming down on all sides of the house! I was home alone. No Landlords (friends) on the main floor, no husband, no child...everyone gone. There were sparks coming out of the electrical outlets in every room and I thought for sure...this is it....I'm a goner. The lightning also hit a tree outside and split it and hit a chicken coop up the road, which had a resulting fire. What did I do? I went to the bottom of the stairs in the big front hall by the front door and prayed for my Dad to hurry up and pick me up and for the house not to catch fire. I was shaking like a leaf! I know....I'm a little sensitive to being hit by those strobes of light!
Aside from the lightning taking out our TV in our house a few years later, I've pretty much been able to hide from it, either on my own or behind my Husband. Now, I like to go play the guitar...really loudly...and sing....really loudly as well and block it out completely!
Fear really is a strange animal. Why do some people freak out at the sight of a spider or snake, yet run and dance in lightning? Why are some so afraid of driving, or flying, or getting up in front of people and making a speech and not other things? I think that in a past life, I must have had a bad experience with lightning, because it terrifies me!
Be safe! ....and oh yah....Knock on Wood!
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