August 8, 2022
Almost simultaneous thunder and lightning filled the air around our home, and as of yet, no danger penetrated our castle. We felt relatively safe as lightning bolted to the ground all along our cul-de-sac. Then the computer before which I sat started popping and crackling in ways unknownst to me, and I thought it best and safest to remove myself from such charged energy.
I walked to the door of our family office and turned to look at my office mate (aka my husband), and at that instance all of our computer equipment seemed to zing with the released energy of a recent lightning strike. My hubby and I looked at each other with shocked faces. My husband took the electrical surge with the coolness of a former fireman (which he is) and continued working on his laptop, but I decided my time in the office was done for a time, work or no work.
The power went out as it usually does in such storms around here, and after about ten minutes we heard sirens wailing. The sirens kept getting closer, and then we realized that the firetrucks were headed for our neighbor’s house. Soon the cul-de-sac was filled with an entire entourage of vehicles: firetrucks, volunteer vehicles, and Duke Power repair trucks.
After all the facts of the emergency-filled afternoon came in, we learned that lightning had indeed struck the power pole across the street from our neighbor’s house and ours. The electrical energy traveled down the line that serves our neighbor’s house and ours, and for reasons known and allowed only by God, the surplus electricity took a right to our neighbor’s house instead of heading to our house.
The lightning surge then started a fire in our neighbor’s upstairs bedroom, and our neighbor bravely did his best to put out the fire with a household extinguisher. The fire quickly became bigger than his home apparatus could handle, so he called in reinforcements with the fire department. After all was said and done, a fireman told our neighbor that he likely saved his home from total loss through his bravery.
We are burdened for our neighbors and their 3 month or so displacement from their home for repairs, yet we are thanking God that the only loss we suffered was “fried” audio and computer equipment. Despite utilized surge protectors, my husband lost a computer router, and I lost my Focusrite audio interface in my recording studio. Though the losses were slightly frustrating, we are grateful not to be displaced from our home and we are grateful for the funds to quickly replace all of this equipment.
All this said, I took a longer than normal break from recording. I had recorded the piano and violin 1 parts of my duet, Be Thou My Vision, and was eagerly planning to finish this recording project when the storm hit. Today, the recording is complete, and the video is just waiting for your enjoyment!
-Ashley
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