Lightning in the Face!

Last night was a most amazing evening.

It was roughly 11:30pm, the housemates had all tucked themselves away into bed and I, being a facebook addict, was up a bit later than anyone else. Well the hour rolled around and I left for the long treck to bed.

First stop, the always important teeth brushing exercise in the 2nd floor bathroom. This is where the night gets interesting...

So there I am brushing away, to the left of the mirror is a window pointing towards the SouthWest. Out of my peripheral vision I see the fattiest lightning bolt blast through the sky! Being a physics major I quickly open the window and count the seconds until I hear the thunder. HMMM roughly 6 miles away, not bad I say. I shoot a quick text message out to a friend and return to the window. This time my head fully extruding into the bitter outdoor weather.

Suddenly
white flash
bang
shaking
fire

I literally witnessed, that is to say I freaking SAW a lightning bolt blast a tree across our alley. No more than 25 feet away from my current location. Needless to say this scared the beejeszess out of me! I started hyperventalating and started screaming into the house! All my housemates flew out of their rooms, half naked, thinking I had been shot!

What followed was a two minute period in which we decided whether or not the tree was on fire. As there was a fiery glow protruding from the middle of the tree. Not to mention embers floating into the air!

We decided it was and I called 911 and reported this awesome event! While on the phone - this is the bizzarre part which I assume many in Seattle can confirm - it started hailing and raining extremely hard! The windows blew up and us, being half naked, caught quite off guard.

All-in-all the firetruck came, I showed them the tree, which at this point was no longer glowing. But better safe then sorry. Spectacular night, mother nature flexing her muscles, or (mother with muscles - not sure I like that metaphor) you get the idea.

Glad my head wasn't the tree. That is for sure. AMAZING, love life.