Being caught outside in a wild, electrical storm

After heading home from choir practice earlier this week, we were waiting at the bus stop when a storm started to move in.  It looked quite menacing and daylight began turning to dark.  That said, I was hoping we would make it home before the worst of it hit — BIG mistake!

I snapped the photo below just before we boarded the bus. 

It was 3 pm in the afternoon and, yes, it WAS that bad!

The wild storm hit a few minutes after the bus pulled out of the depot.  It pelted us relentlessly on the ten minute ride to our stop. The other passengers were looking just as nervous as we were. It was eerily dark. The wind was very strong and gusty! The rain was unforgiving and we had no umbrella — charming!  To be honest, an umbrella would have been a hindrance for me considering I was carrying my own — very full — tote bag, as well as, Bradley's heavy back-pack.  I also had the task of guiding Bradley because his white cane was not going to be of much help in the hazardous conditions.  

When we stepped off the bus at our stop, we were soaked through in literally seconds.  It was a 10 minute walk home and I had to take my sandals off because my feet were sliding and slipping all over the place inside my sandals.   Thankfully, I'd made sure Brad's hearing aids had been packed away safely before boarding the bus. 

If you can imagine it, the walk home was quite scary for poor Bradley considering his blindness and hearing impairment, not to mention the fact that he has a fear of water.  It was slow-going but, about four minutes from home, I spotted our knight in shining armour.  Okay, he wasn't wearing armour but my wonderful son, Aaron, was running towards us with a large umbrella. Our hero! He took the heavy back-pack from me so I could manage with the umbrella which did help protect our heads at least. 

I was so relieved when we reached the shelter of the entrance to our house...our sanctuary!   

I learned a valuable lesson — 

Next time, DON'T trust my own judgement when it comes to approaching storms.  They can be unpredictable and some of them move extremely fast. We learned later that one woman was struck by lightning during that very same storm.  Thankfully, she survived.  Also, a 13 year old boy was taken to hospital after sustaining injuries when a large tree branch snapped and fell on top of him. You can read about both incidents HERE.

On top of that, I ended up with a sore foot which was twisted from all the slipping and sliding inside my soaked sandals.

We took a little while to calm down after our experience but I'm feeling very grateful that we made it home safely and in tact.

On a happier note —

Bradley and I just finished week three of the 'Mater Sing for Health' choir practice. Three more to go before our Christmas performance day. We always look forward to singing with the Mater choir as all the members are so nice and friendly.  Our choir master is amazing too!  The Mater choir performs twice a year and is made up of patients, volunteers, and hospital staff. It is now on its third year and we still have some of the original members,  including myself and Bradley.

We both hope the choir will continue for years to come.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!