The Sound of Lightning

A funny thing happened to me on my evening walk last week. You know, one of those gear grinding events I am apt to have for some strange unknown reason, that inspire me to write. This time the inspiration occurred when an isolated New Mexico thunderstorm popped up not far from where my dogs and I were out walking. Believe it or not, it wasn't an awe-inspiring act of nature that inspired me ether. It was actually the end result from that act.

You see, a mighty powerful bolt of lightning struck a power station that serves our community. End result… over 135,000 people without electricity. This was obviously unbeknownst to me at the time since I was out in the desert enjoying the cool summer breeze and breathing in the soul-cleansing fresh air. It was only in the last mile stretch when I reentered the land of subdivisions that I noticed something was awry.

Darkened houses lit imaginations.

One would think that my cue was the endless sea of darkened houses. It was not, for the evening sun had not yet set, therefore the twinkling lights of evening suburbia were not yet occasioned.

My cue was auditory.

And it was music to my ears.

It was the sound of kids playing outside.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask in my family), I have lived in suburbia ever since my first son was born. So, one would think the sound of kids plying outside was routine. Sadly it was not.

Don't get me wrong, my kids played outside with neighborhood kids on occasion, but it definitely was not routine. Though you may hear the jovial laughter of a few kids enjoying the evening air, an evening walk around the neighborhood was often accompanied by lengths of silence caused by barren streets. That is what made last week's event so noteworthy.

Every single street I walked had kids playing. Not only were they playing, they were emphatically enjoying themselves. Giggles and shouts of joy filled the air.

On every single street.

Why in the world did this strike me as odd?

It was a constant unnatural sound. One I haven't heard in over 30 years.

But what on earth, or in the heavens, caused this sound?

Was something turned on to spark this joyous outburst?

On the contrary, something was turned off.... Electronics.

There were no TVs to be watched, no video games to be played, no internet to be surfed, and no computers to capture ones attention. Rather they had each other, their own imagination and a world of unexplored territory beneath their feet. And strangely enough, by the sounds of it, they were delighted.

I never knew lightning made a sound...

...but I heard it...

...and it was beautiful.