A thunderstorm rolled in one night and suddenly I saw flash of lightning. A second later I heard the thunder, but the thunder was more of a ka-BOOM! Within seconds our television and cable box went black, totally non-functioning. It happened so quickly. Was it a second after the thunder? If so, one second would be 0.21307 miles away from our home. Later I searched online to see how close this storm had been to us, and I found this website that offers different ways to calculate. Was it a close call for lightning striking our building more significantly? I think so.
Link for calculating: https://www.omnicalculator.com/
physics/lightning-distance
That night we stayed on the couch in front of a blank TV screen and began telling stories about storms and stories about the past. They were more entertaining than what I would have found on TV. My husband ordered a new television a couple of hours later. "How are you going to live without TV and cable?" he asked me. Each night after dinner we conversed, and it was refreshing, and easy. Why haven't we done this more?
I found a piece of art I had made decades ago, and I taped it to the blank screen of the TV. Why not have a decorative looking machine even if it's not working? We have our new TV now, but it's not as entertaining as the story telling hour after each dinner that week.
© 2022 Georgiann Foley