“Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire”
June 20, 2011-TH-
I knew I shouldn’t have been telling Lauren about my quiet and calm week of working in my office and not having any real appointments outside the house…Karma: fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me; I know better.
Apparently Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t a fan of me singing his song in the shower Saturday, and his lyrics of “you shake my nerves and you rattle my brain” must not have been about a girl, but about his relationship with the Greek God Zeus and Zeus’ love of lightning. I won’t even tie in the whole Zeus married his sister Hera/Jerry Lee Lewis and the cousin once removed thing, but I’m making a mental note not to do Lewis covers any more…
If there is one benefit to the past year, it’s that I have found what really is important in life versus “the little things”, even if the little things are a huge problem at this moment in time. It’d be incredibly easy for L and I to get bogged down in the current happenings that we deal with (and we often do), but then we’re reminded of what’s really important.
Our house got struck by lightning this morning just before 5:15 AM; in what can only be described as the second most violent sound and experience I have been involved in. If you’ve been in a car crash, it’s about as close to what that was in terms of intensity, but unique in its own powerful and downright frightening way.
It was a direct hit to our roof; I could see the lightning dance outside the window as the grounding rod took the brunt. It wasn’t a flash, but a downright iridescent glow that lingered for far longer than I ever imagined coupled by the sound of the thunder rolling through the walls, it was overpowering and I now never need to ask our IMPD friend who will be called “Sargent” from this point forward; what a flash-bang sounds like from his SWAT days.
Once I made sure L and the dogs were okay, I knew it was vitally important to check the house, last thing I wanted to do was have IFD and Pike Fire at our house or more importantly; have to call another close friend of ours “Fire Captain”, and ask what the best way to put out an attic fire was.
I did the rounds, no smoke, checked the attic as best as I could and didn’t see smoldering. Then I made sure the rest of the house was secure. I first noticed something was amiss in the office when the computer lights weren’t on like normal, a quick investigation highlighted we lost multiple computers and office equipment, and after investigating further, our big TV downstairs (luckily no major sporting events coming up to watch), a TV upstairs, fried a few Comcast cable boxes, messed up the garage door opener, managed to somehow turn on a bicycle light in the garage, and that was just at first glance. I’ll investigate further tonight and make sure everything else is working properly and fingers crossed that is the extent of the damage.
(Don’t worry; the coffee pot was still working, because that would have most likely been the breaking point for me.)
So, the lesson here is that 13 months ago I would have been furious with Mother Nature and tried to track her down and have words with her; but now in life I realize “it’s just stuff, it can all be replaced”. B reminded me this morning “Yikes! Yes, that’s what insurance is for to replace what can be replaced. Glad you two (and the dogs) are ok.”
The pups were okay (though all 3 slept in bed after the strike this morning), nothing is ruined that can’t be replaced, and while this is certainly not how I envisioned spending my somewhat calm week; in the grand scheme of things we’ll just go with it.
Already contacted the insurance agent, waiting to get the ball rolling there, need to get the roof checked as well as the rest of the electrical system, and go from there. While a major inconvenience, we’re alright and I’m sure we’ll joke about it down the road with a “remember that time we got struck by lightning?”, some would say we’ve been struck by lightning twice since The Wedding; maybe with these odds it’s time to start playing the Indiana Lottery?
On another note, my awesome Dad turns 58 today. The older I get the more I feel like I’ve really grown into the personality he has; it takes a lot to get him away from his natural demeanor and he is by far the calmest and collected man I know. I absolutely love being able to see him and have a beer together and just relax. I hope when I’m his age I’ve got his personality and outlook on life; I think I’m close now but also realize there are some things you just don’t fully understand till you’ve walked a mile in the same shoes. Cheers Dad, Father’s Day and your birthday back to back; makes sure I can keep track of it!
Off to deal with the insurance agent, because if I didn’t already have enough on my plate with everything else currently going on…
Cheers
-th