Stormy Weather

It has been an unusually hot and humid summer. Our lows are in the mid- to upper-70s overnight and the highs have been high 90s to low 100s. Just walking outside in the middle of the day is enough to make you feel like you're breathing warm jello.

We've been praying for rain to cool our piece of the world off a bit, but obviously, you have to be careful what you ask for. When there's that much heat in the atmosphere, there's also a lot of energy. That energy tends to express itself as lightning. Florida is the lightning capital of the country - more people get hit by lightning here and injured or killed than anywhere else in North America. My own brother's been hit by lightning twice. He survived.

As you can imagine, we have a very healthy respect for lightning. The kids have the 30-30 rule drummed into them from kindergarden on. Sporting events have lightning delays that can turn a two-hour game into a day-long event.

We've had two days in a row of incredible lightning storms. Having spent nearly 8 years in Oklahoma, I don't normally cringe when thunderstorms are howling overhead, but the lightning in these last two days of storms have had me burying my head in my shoulders like a little child. When my boy sees me turn off the computer and the tv and unplug them so we don't catch the house on fire, he knows it's a bad storm.

As much as I love thunderstorms, I wouldn't mind if this kind would back off a little. Give me a little tropical storm anyday!