My friend Bird and I went for a walk on Venice Beach last Sunday. It was warm and uncharacteristically humid in Los Angeles. We saw rain storms way off in the distance out in the ocean as we walked south from Santa Monica into Venice. It was the perfect beach walking day. The tide was out, the water was calm except for intermittent perfectly curling waves they made me wish I was a surfer. We spotted a big pod of dolphins swimming near the shore so we stopped to commune with their beautiful, playful natures. It was a beautiful day with some low level clouds in the sky and we were having a wonderful time.
After a few miles we decided to sit on the wet sand near the water’s edge. We had just passed all the Venice craziness and were at the north end of the Marina Del Rey Peninsula. We continued in one of a kazillion of our deep and meaningful conversations as a big gray cloud rolled in just started discharging lightning. In my peripheral vision, I saw a huge bolt of lightning hit the water about 30 feet away – it was not during a thunderstorm and it wasn’t raining. I was looking at Bird when I saw the lighting hit the top of her head and disperse down around her. Simultaneously, I felt the lightning hit my head and go all through me.It was as if we were in one of those static electricity globes except it was lightning.
It felt like I had been hit over the head with a metal object – hard! After our initial shock and realization of what had just occurred, we looked around us to see a big man in his fifties as other swimmers pulled him out of the water onto the shore. Bird and I immediately ran towards the guard stand screaming to get the guard down to him. The life guard administered CPR as we prayed for the man in cardiac arrest. There were lots of emergency crews all around and I feared another strike so I suggested we leave the beach.
Just as we got off of the beach, Bird remembered that she had left her shoes. She chose to go back there on her own and retrieve them. I was so worried another bolt would charge out of the sky. The grey clouds were still above us and it was just beginning to rain. While I waited for Bird, I talked to the medics and told them our experiences. They said we should get checked out because you never know what kind of internal damage may have occurred. Not long after, we ended up in the back of an ambulance where they took us to The Marina Del Rey Hospital to check our hearts for burn damage.
Four hours and one power outage (from the lightning strikes) later, we were released. I am OK and very grateful that a sore noggin is all I sustained from a lightning strike to the head. I am also grateful my friend, Bird is OK as well.
Each day, I send prayers to the friends and family of the young man who died and to the man in critical condition who was struck in front of us. Prayers to all who were affected and to their families. We are lucky and we are blessed!