Ptown has been plagued by extremely hot weather in the past two weeks. High 80’s up to 90 degrees even, which is not the norm for this time of year. The worst part was it wasn’t just hot, it was muggy as hell. To the point that I stopped straightening my hair for work, because the humidity made it curly on my walk to work anyway. It got so bad that I actually wanted it to rain. Last night, I got my wish.
I was at the gym, finishing up my run, when I noticed that it had gotten pretty dark outside considering it was only around 530pm. Then the wind started to pick up. Ahhh, this is the storm that is being talked about on every single TV in the gym. I picked up the pace for the last mile, hoping to be able to beat the worst of the storm home.
Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to leave the gym, a torrential down pour had started outside. It even smelled like rain out, which is something I really miss by living in an area that is constantly dripping. When I had left the house that morning, it had already been 70 degrees out so of course I had no jacket and no umbrella. After running five miles in a very stuffy gym with no air, I was already dripping a bit myself, so I figured this was as good a time as any to make sure I still don’t melt in the rain.
Lucky for me, it was still warm outside, but I was soaked within the first block. I slowly trudged my way home, my feet sloshing around in my shoes after only 2 blocks. Rain drops stuck to my eye lashes and when I looked up, I even got smacked right in the eye ball with a big fat rain drop.
Ten slow and very wet blocks later, I made it home, sweaty, wet and starting to get cold. This of course is when the sky really decided to open up and provide Ptown with a very rare treat – a thunder storm. I wanted nothing more than a nice hot shower, but something held me back.
You see, as a kid, I had spent all my waking hours at the local swimming pool during the summers. Whenever it started thundering, the lifeguards booted us out of the pool until there hadn’t been any thunder for at least 10 minutes. As a teenager, I became one of those lifeguards, kicking kids out of the pool whenever the thunder and lightening started. So you can imagine my confusion as I tried to reconcile my previous experiences with my intense desire to take a shower right then.
So I did what any intelligent and independent 28 year old would do – I called my parents to ask them if I would be struck by lightening if I took a shower during a thunder storm. My mom responded with a chucking “no,” quickly followed up by “but let me check with your father.” My father of course responded with a “no,” in a tone of voice reserved for his “what the hell kind of stupid question is that?” moments.
So, I took a shower and did not get struck by lightening. All the guys I work with thought this story was hysterical – how could I not know that I could take a shower during a storm? But seriously, I’d spent a significant part of my life being not being able to get in the water during storms, what was a girl to think?
The next step was of course Google. As it turns out, the Internet community is very split among the pro-shower and no-shower. It’s all very dramatic . . . so much so that I imagine it will be a huge part of the next presidential election. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but people have very strong opinions on whether or not you should shower during a thunder storm. It turns out that the issue isn’t the water, but the fact that the current will travel through the pipes and anything touching them.
Despite my years of training to avoid water during a lightening storm, I am making the educated decision to take a shower if I need one. Because ya, I’m a rebel like that.
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