Struck By Lightning

For as long as I can remember lightning storms have been a source of excitement and wonder for me. Some of my favorite childhood memories come  from the summer storms that would blow over the top of our little 'gingerbread' house. My dad, brother Ryan, and I used to sit on our back porch and watch them in the summer afternoons. My dad would tell us stories about his childhood, and we'd laugh about the things Leesa would do, or how angry mom would get over the most ridiculous things! That backyard, defined by the line of trees, roses, and fence the Reids constantly protected from our "monkey fanatics" provided the greatest area for 3 siblings, and a handful of daycare kids to play around in. We had trees to climb, sprinklers with a mind of their own, ghosts, the best trampoline you could imagine, grass that seemed to go on for days when it came time to drag out the lawn mower, but best of all a covered porch big enough for a platic kitchen set, a picnic table, a 4 chair outdoor table, a park bench, and carpeted in the fake backyard turf/carpet/thingy that I swear was stolen from the backyard of the Brady Bunch. The thing was huge and covered by green fiber-glass that we weren't allowed to walk on because it would break. (Though we learned we could still jump off the roof and onto the trampoline if we climbed the garage roof, or walked on the boards that formed the support of the fiber-glass stuff.) That roof was the BEST place to watch lightning storms! Nature really is a wonder. I hadn't thought about that old faded red porch until last night as I was laying on the cement in the middle of temple square watching the lightning dance across the heavens. I was thinking about how much had changed in the last 10-15 years of my life. The people I had met, and wondering what would have happened had my family never moved from Bountiful to South Jordan. Would I have grown up the way I did, and chosen the classes I had in high school. Would I have re-connected with some of my old elementary school friends as I have recently, or would I have drifted from them the way I have from the people I did go to high school with. There really isn't a way to know what could have happened, or would have happened. I came to the conclusion that everything had happened for a reason that I wasn't yet aware of, and I had met the people I had met because I was supposed to. Makes a girl wonder why, but I guess those answers will have to come later on in life, or when I see it all rewound and re-played on a big screen in Heaven.

It's strange that all this introspection was brought on my a simple lightning storm, but I'd guess it's all part of the magic and wonder that comes with a strip of energy striking the earth, and lighting up the sky.

Title: Struck By Lightning

Photography thank you to: Anna