It Never Rains in Southern California

"Seems it never rains in southern California,

Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before,

It never rains in California,

But girl don't they warn ya,

It pours, man it pours."

Wow those lyrics are sooooo true. Since I have been in Southern California it has rarely rained. But boy, when it does, it is something serious. The bad weather began yesterday, with an overcast day. It rained on and off throughout the day, but nothing too serious. However, by midnight last night, it was STORMING. There was hard and pounding rain, serious wind, booming thunder, and frightening lightning that brightened the entire sky.

All my life I have been uncomfortable with lightning. I was the kid that, during a lightning storm, didn't sit by the windows, wore shoes with rubber soles, turned off all electrical instruments, sat in a wooden chair with my feet off the ground, didn't talk on the phone, and counted the seconds between hearing the thunder and seeing the lightning to determine how far the lightning is. However, when I got my braces, my discomfort with lightning strengthen. Here I was, a young girl, already scared of lightning, now with my own personal super conductor, lying dormant in my mouth, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to become charged.

When I was about 12, the perfect opportunity almost arose for my personal super conductor to start working, escalating my discomfort with lightning into a true fear. At the time, I was living in Florida, the lightning capital of the world. In Florida, lightning storms are sooooo bad that they can happen on sunny days with no clouds in the sky (Ok, so maybe that is a slight exaggeration). That day I was sitting in the family room, and a lightning bolt came straight through the family room window and out the window in the kitchen. Since then I have been petrified of lightning.

Since I have been in Southern California there have been 2 lightning storms. The first one kept me up all night because I was continuously being frightened out of my sleep by both the sound of the thunder and the brightness of the lightning. Throughout most of that storm, the lightning was continuously striking less than a mile away from the house. Needless to say, last night's storm was no different. However, last night's was worse because I was by myself. Therefore, had I been struck by lightning, no one would hear my screams or even realize that something was wrong.

So what to do, what to do. How will I get over this fear? Who knows? If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.