Lightning Strikes!

I was a young boy, left alone with my older brother on a stormy night while our parents went out for a date.  We were watching TV in the dark living room when suddenly there was a wall-shaking BOOM and the whole house was lit up in a flash of light.  I remember jumping on top of the couch (which seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time) and sharing a wide-eyed moment of panic with my brother.  After taking a minute to steel our nerves, we flipped the lights on and went to the window in the next room where we saw an oak tree that had been split by lightning not more than 10 feet from the house. 

It is a memory that I won't forget. It reminds me to appreciate the trees that we have because they could be gone in an instant!