My grandmother used to tell me many things. Don’t go out in the cold with your hair wet or you’ll get sick, don’t sit to close to the TV or you’ll go blind, don’t talk on the phone in a storm...

Of course I never listened.

On Wednesday we had a big coastal-type storm with heavy rain and lightning. I was at work so I did not pay attention to it. When I got home I found out that lightning had struck very close to the house.

The hubby, Mark, had just installed a new ceiling fan and when he flipped the switch the entire room lit up. At first he thought he had blown up the house but realized that the boom that went with the flash of light was thunder.

At the same moment as the lightning strike, little Evan was playing Nintendo. Mark said Evan jumped, then slowly put down his controller, walked over to his bed and crawled completely under the cover and said nothing.



Mark walked over and said “you okay buddy?” A few seconds later Evan responded “it shocked me.”


According to Mark, Evan stayed under the covers for a while -- he figured it was safer under there. So Mark proceeded to look through the house. Here’s the damage count –

Evan’s TV and VCR
Nintendo controller
Kenwood surround sound system
Several components in Mark’s two-week-old computer
Cable modem

When I asked Evan what happened he held up his pointer finger and said "it shocked this finger and went krazzzxxxzzzxxxxkzzzkkzkzzzz."

Imagine that him making that sound and imitating someone in the electric chair and you get a good idea of his impression of being brushed by a lightning bolt.

I can see it now, 60 years from now Evan will tell his grandchildren not to play Nintendo when it storms and they will give him that "you are really old and stupid" look.