Rain, Thunder, Neighbors...Oh My!!!

And so I have returned....ta da!

A thunderstorm was lurking a few miles down from us a few days ago and it reminded me of this hilarious story from this past Fall that I have decided to share.

Our next door neighbor's driveway runs parallel with ours. He is a sweet man near the age 60 or so. He is married, but you rarely ever see his wife...except when she comes and goes...so, she does in fact exist. Our neighbor likes to come over and talk all of the time, usually accompanied by his long stories. Sometimes, we don't have the time to be polite and listen or engage in a 30 minute to 1 hour long conversation. I do make an exception when we discuss Carolina basketball though.

My family is maybe a bit odd, although I have found out that other people do this too. We like to go out to the garage and watch the rain and thunderstorms as they pass by. It is somehow soothing and cool at the same time. Well, on this particular night one of our favorite shows was about to come on in T-minus 15 to 20 minutes. We had actually been talking about it being about time we should go back in. Dad needed to fix his coffee and we all wanted to eat some of the freshly baked cookies.

Wouldn't you know, the neighbor's blinds moved in the bonus room above their garage and we knew we'd been spotted. But, it was dark outside as Dad pointed out. How could he have seen us? And then it happened. A flash of lightning gave away our cove, our hiding place, our lined up beach chairs we sat in to watch the thunderstorm! We began to move slowly until BAM! the neighbor's garage light flooded our two driveways with his figure standing next to his truck. We were caught! We were deer in the headlights, but we did indeed move as fast as possible. Dad grabbed his chair and headed left, around the car and safely to the garage steps. Mom also headed in that direction, or so I thought. Me, being the clever person I am, decided why run around the right side of the car when you could run on the left side with a straight shot to the back of the garage and steps. I got about halfway and was pushed down. Was it our neighbor?! I have seen way too many movies. No it was in fact Mom. I caught a glance of her as I fell against the side of the car door and then bounced into the empty computer box. Yes, I was in a box. I had nowhere to go. I could feel the bruises and the heat of what most likely was a twisted ankle. Mom helped pick me up and we made it into the house as the garage door was shutting...leave no man behind!

Looking back on that day, I believe the neighbor did witness some of this. Luckily, he may not have heard too much of it because of his loss of hearing. Until recently, he was not coming over as frequently. We should probably invite him over to watch a storm or two this summer to make a mends and to prevent further injuries on my part.

The Endb