As I write this, my ears are still ringing. I was sitting here on my bridge, doing my job (which at that moment consisted of just sitting here, since being a bridgetender means doing a great deal of sitting and waiting for boats. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.)
Then all of a sudden, BANG!!! The loudest sound I’ve ever heard, along with a shock wave I could feel in my chest. And a blinding flash of white light coming from all directions. I half expected to see a mushroom cloud.
I think my bridge got struck by lightning. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Thank goodness this structure is well grounded. Lightning would hit my bridges in Florida all the time, but those were much worse experiences. Grounding wires are made of copper, which is worth quite a bit, so as soon as we replaced one in Florida, it would be stolen yet again by some redneck boater wanting to pay his bar tab.
Here, I think most boaters are too rich to bother with petty theft. I’m very grateful for that, because this could have been bad. It was close. I mean, way too close.
Who needs caffeine? Not me. I’m wide awake here. I may never sleep again. Hooooeee!
But the epic storms like those in Florida are rare in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been here for almost 9 years now, and I think I’ve heard thunder and seen lightning about 4 times. In Florida, that’s a typical 3pm. So, yeah, I’ve gotten complacent. But then, I suppose there’s really no preparing for nature’s wrath.
Never underestimate nature. One minute, I’m sitting here, and then death explodes all around me, somehow missing me and yet enveloping me at the same time. What a reminder that your whole life can change in a split second.
Nothing is cast in stone. Everything is pretty freakin’ arbitrary, as a matter of fact. As much as we’d like to think we’re in control, we aren’t. We are a flea on the back of a big old cosmic dog, and we can be flicked off at any second. Nothing personal.
Suddenly I’m feeling humble and very vulnerable. I still have an hour to go before my shift is over. Then I think I’ll drive home and hug Dear Husband and my dogs, and then eat a pint of ice cream. Calories mean nothing once you’ve been engulfed in the glow of lightning and have lived to tell the tale.
In the meantime, I have actual work to do. Phone calls and paperwork. We lost power. The generator tripped multiple alarms. All is not quiet on the Pacific Northwestern front. But that’s okay, because I can’t really hear much over the ringing in my ears anyway.
Check this out, y’all. I wrote a book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
Leave a Reply