Yesterday, I witnessed the most magnificent thunderstorm I've ever seen. And better yet, I was on the beach in Atlantic City for one last hoorah with my friends from UPenn before we go our separate ways for the summer (some back to New England, another to Utah, etc). I don't know if you've been to AC in the past few years, but Donald Trump built an enormous outlet mall jutting out a few hundred yards into the ocean. As my boyfriend and the guys watched the Flyers advance in the playoffs from outside a sports bar, myself and the ladies looked out over the ocean from the third floor of the mall, watching as the waves grew rougher and buckets of water pummeled the side of the building. I faced the dilemma of whether or not to risk driving all of my friends back to Philadelphia at 10 o'clock at night in a severe storm, not to mention that we were about a 15 minute walk from where our cars were parked. We decided to take the risk, and found that the rain had let up by the time the Flyers had come back from 0-3 to beat the Bruins 4-3 in Game 7 (a historic feat, according to Andy).
As we splashed down the boardwalk, peopled only by creepy guys begging to give us a ride in one of the covered push-carts, lightning lit up the sky. Two of our friends started running toward the beach, and my initial instinct was fear as full bolts of lightening crackled above the sea. But suddenly I let the fear go, we all did, as the two guys waved us on to come up onto the sand dune and look. We watched electricity pulsate silently through the night sky, illuminating the grey expanse over the black ocean. It was no longer menacing, but beautiful, and rare.
Andy turned to me and said "think of what they pay in special effects to recreate that, do you want to try and take a picture?". I said no, just watch. Some moments are too special to be documented. Scramble to find your camera, and you'll miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment