Lightning at the Park

Well, I went to practice taiji all right. It was a bit cloudy, but I liked the quality of light and the temperature was perfect. So I stood in meditation for a while (redid some of the exercises I worked on in seated meditation this morning), went through the muscle change classics, the Mantak Chia form, and the Chen man Ching form. The clouds had gotten steadily darker through this, and there was an occasional lightning flash. The first one took a count of 40 to hear the thunder (approx. 8 miles). During the CmC form, One took a count of 6. The next a count of 5. So the strikes were roughly a mile away. I debated packing it up then and there, but I hadn't practiced the sword form in a few days, and it's pretty short, so I figured I'd have time. I was maybe 2/3 of the way through when there was a flash-BOOM! For a split-second, my mind just railed, then I ran for my stuff, grabbed it, and ran for the restrooms at the park. There was no conscious decision to do so, but I had considered that option earlier in case things got really bad. Oh, did I mention the rain was sheeting down at this point?

So I sat down on the floor of the restroom, waiting for my heartrate to slow, and eventually decided to put my shoes and socks back on (I practice taiji barefoot whenever possible). Then I got my mat rolled up (it's now hanging on the shower rod to dry), and decided I might as well finish the sword form while I was stuck. There wasn't really room to swing the sword freely, and I think this was actually good practice in working with the available space. I clunked into the stalls a bit at first, but by the end I'd gotten the hang of compensating for the small space. The rain had let up a bit when I'd finished, so I dug my housekey out, stuck the sword through the top loop of my backpack, and headed out. My house is only three blocks from the park, and there were no more close lightning strikes (really, only that one had been close enough to be concerned about). I did get home and discover that the power had gone out while I was gone. Thirteen minutes before I got home, in fact (since the clocks read 12:13). I'd bet good money that was when that flash-BOOM happened. So, 9:18 am.

That actually is not the worst lightning situation I've been in. That was several years back when I went with my dad to the sporting goods store in the Westwood Mall (it's changed names so many times that I'm not sure what the name was then, or is now). As we were coming out of the glass doors, the lightning was breaking and booming directly over the parking lot. We could SEE it (you think it's bright from a distance? HA!), ropes of light crackling and booming in the rain. It wasn't striking anything but air, thankfully. We actually did something rather stupid: we ran for Dad's pickup and got in, rather than waiting for the storm to move on. But I recognized that sound this morning, and needed no further prompting to get to shelter. Unfortunately, the adrenalin rush still hasn't worn off. It's going to make me a bit jittery until it does.