It's thunderstorming here and the streaks of lightning are both exciting and terrifying. Thunderstorms didn't use to scare me but in the last few years, for some odd reason, the clash of thunder is enough to make me cringe when I think of the possibility of being electrocuted. This is probably something we call irrational fear. I'm not afraid of electrocution itself..more the idea of it, and if I sit down and consider the chances of bing electrocuted, I'm not actually afraid of that either.
The statistic I've heard regarding shark attacks and being struck by lightning isn't very comforting either. Apparently, more people are struck by lightning every year than are attacked by sharks. This statement is meant to comfort one when going to the beach, but for some reason I usually remember it when there's a thunderstorm. During a storm, all the memories and images I have of shark attacks and people with missing limbs who survived only to return to surfing (I never did understand that girl..) come flooding back and I realize that shark attacks do happen, and obviously if they happen..so does electrocution.
Actually, I think what really made me begin to fear thunderstorms was a night last year. I went to sleep with the window open because it was a humid summer night (common to Ohio) and the rain wasn't coming in, or maybe it wasn't even raining when I went to sleep. I was awakened at about 3am by the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard in my life. I'm not exaggerating. It woke me up, and if you know the kinds of things I sleep through --my siblings screaming bloody murder in the carseat next to me only one of many examples-- that fact would prove how loud this clap of thunder was. It was accompanied --that's right, accompanied..not proceeded by-- a blinding flash of lightning (ok, so this might be an exaggeration because I was half asleep), and a burnt smell. I don't know if it's possible to smell lightning, but I swear I smelled something burning. It was really like waking up to the end of the world, probably in part because I was groggy and not thinking straight, which is evidenced by the fact that I immediately jumped out of bed, ran to my parents' room and whispered urgently in my fathers ear, "Daddy, was the house struck by lightning?"
If I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that it would have been slightly more obvious if the house had actually been struck by lightning, but, again, I blame all this on a brain only half-awake. Whatever the reason for my actions, that memory of waking up to what seemed like a very terrifying 'end of the world' is very vivid and seems to have sparked some kind of irrational fear of thunder storms: nothing too dramatic. I'm not terrified of them and I can dance in the rain while watching lightning, but, all the same, it does make me cringe when the forked tongues slice across the sky and a loud clap of thunder splits the air, especially within a few seconds of the lightning, which, thanks to my 9th grade online science class, I now can convert to the approximate number of miles away from us that the lightning is striking.
Of course, according to this website, more people die by eletrocution from Christmas tree lights per year than by shark attacks....so maybe being struck by lightning isn't that common after all.
;)
The statistic I've heard regarding shark attacks and being struck by lightning isn't very comforting either. Apparently, more people are struck by lightning every year than are attacked by sharks. This statement is meant to comfort one when going to the beach, but for some reason I usually remember it when there's a thunderstorm. During a storm, all the memories and images I have of shark attacks and people with missing limbs who survived only to return to surfing (I never did understand that girl..) come flooding back and I realize that shark attacks do happen, and obviously if they happen..so does electrocution.
Actually, I think what really made me begin to fear thunderstorms was a night last year. I went to sleep with the window open because it was a humid summer night (common to Ohio) and the rain wasn't coming in, or maybe it wasn't even raining when I went to sleep. I was awakened at about 3am by the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard in my life. I'm not exaggerating. It woke me up, and if you know the kinds of things I sleep through --my siblings screaming bloody murder in the carseat next to me only one of many examples-- that fact would prove how loud this clap of thunder was. It was accompanied --that's right, accompanied..not proceeded by-- a blinding flash of lightning (ok, so this might be an exaggeration because I was half asleep), and a burnt smell. I don't know if it's possible to smell lightning, but I swear I smelled something burning. It was really like waking up to the end of the world, probably in part because I was groggy and not thinking straight, which is evidenced by the fact that I immediately jumped out of bed, ran to my parents' room and whispered urgently in my fathers ear, "Daddy, was the house struck by lightning?"
If I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that it would have been slightly more obvious if the house had actually been struck by lightning, but, again, I blame all this on a brain only half-awake. Whatever the reason for my actions, that memory of waking up to what seemed like a very terrifying 'end of the world' is very vivid and seems to have sparked some kind of irrational fear of thunder storms: nothing too dramatic. I'm not terrified of them and I can dance in the rain while watching lightning, but, all the same, it does make me cringe when the forked tongues slice across the sky and a loud clap of thunder splits the air, especially within a few seconds of the lightning, which, thanks to my 9th grade online science class, I now can convert to the approximate number of miles away from us that the lightning is striking.
Of course, according to this website, more people die by eletrocution from Christmas tree lights per year than by shark attacks....so maybe being struck by lightning isn't that common after all.
;)
1 comment:
:) You are so funny. And nutty. My favorite line: "nothing too dramatic." Right. As if that's possible in Elieworld.
Did I ever tell you about the couple from Queen of Apostles who had fallen away from the Church. One day they went camping and their tent was struck by lightning. They were actually knocked unconscious for a short time and when they awoke, the husband immediately said, "I've got to go to confession." God too is dramatic sometimes.
Wanna go camping?
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