STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

On Thursday, the 23rd, Reader Wil had an interesting post that can be seen here. It reminded me of what happened to me on the same subject. Lightning. Florida is known as the lightning capital of the country. I have no doubt. We have thunder storms in Florida that are not surpassed by any other state. They are spectacular to watch and can make you whimper for your Momma even as a graying adult.

People always told me NOT to buy property with tall pine trees as they just attract lightning. So naturally, I bought a heavily wooded property. Duh. It took a lot of clearing to provide a pasture for my animals but I left a hedge about 75 feet thick across the front of the property of nice tall pines and shrubs for privacy.


It had been a hard day and I was really tired. The rain was coming down in sheets and the lightning was snapping close by, lighting up the rain darkened sky. It was afternoon but it could easily have been dusk. My mother used to say that lightning was just God taking our picture. He was taking a lot of candid shots that day.


I had a double set of gates leading into my property. I would open one, drive in, close the first one behind me, then open the next gate and drive up to the home. This arrangement was to keep my dogs from possibly leaking out into traffic as I drove in. However, this day, I was really tired and dreaded the gauntlet of gates. Besides, the weather was awful and the lightning fierce. So I sat in the car and waited and then I waited some more.


I really just wanted to get home and take a nice long soak in a steaming tub. So I decided to be really dumb. I got out in the rain and reached over the gate to unlock it. I had locked it behind me and reached over the second gate to unlatch it. I was pushing the second gate open when my world turned blue and I felt the earth reach up thru my feet and slap my entire body, hard. My muscles spasmed violently and I felt everything inside my skin shake.


"You fool," I thought," You just killed yourself."


I did not leave my feet and was glued to the gate. My ability to think or focus was gone. I stumbled around in the rain, unable to make it back to my car. I would try to aim my feet in one direction but they would spasmodically flop in another. I don't know how long I floundered about bouncing off the fence and my vehicle till I finally made it into my car. I was alive.


For a long time I just sat and stared at the walls when I made it inside my home. As sense returned, I sent some serious gratitude sky ward. Should not have been alive but I was and I was desperately grateful for this second chance. God was not done with me.


Then a strange thing happened. I started feeling like I had way too much coffee. I was restless and needed to move about. A wonderful feeling of well being washed over me. It was a feeling that drug addicts would kill for. Along with this marvelous feeling of well being came pure energy.

The rain had stopped so I ran out to the gates to see what had happened to me. Not walked but ran, almost feeling if I ran fast enough, I could fly. I saw no apparent strikes on the trees. No burn marks anywhere. I was pretty sure I did not get a direct hit but may have taken a charge that traveled the fence line or struck near by. Still today, I don't not know what really happened.


What I do know is that I didn't sleep for over 2 days. I felt good, no WONDERFUL, and was full of energy. My friends kidded me that I had gotten my battery charged. I do know that the after effects were great and if I weren't such a sissy, I would stick my finger in a light socket daily to try and recreate that feeling. I understand addiction.


You may think I am a terribly unlucky person to have had such things happen. I really don't feel I have had more trauma than most people and contrarily, I feel very lucky, for I lived each time and have grown with every experience.


Also, today when I do something really stupid, I just attribute it to my lightning strike. It is neat having an excuse for not having good sense.