It was a bright sunny noon day as I approached the door of 6019 Hilside Rd.
Birds singing, trees gently swaying in the wind and me smiling in anticipation of what was to come.
Reaching the door I stood there contemplating my future actions and their implications.
For the second time, everything about my life would change for the better.
Not so much for who I know will answer the door. As I hear footsteps approaching I briefly considered backing up and calling this whole thing off.
Two minutes later, the door opens and there she stands in pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt.
The sight of her is enough for me to make my decision and to seal her fate.
Her name is Zo and though not the most beautiful woman nevertheless, she’s quite attractive and the first on my list.
Standing in at 5’8 180lbs with creamy white skin, hair dyed a lite chartreuse and hazelnut eyes I was looking forward to seeing what more that curvy body had to offer.
Both of us were still standing there looking at each others faces.
Hers was an inquisitive, yet mildly annoyed, look as she tried to see if she recognized me.
I could feel that she wasn’t there yet so I ended the mystery.
“Zo it’s me, J.C.”, I said. The light bulb went off in her head and her eyes widened in recognition. She said, “J.C.! Oh yeah, I remember now.’
“Wow, you look different. I didn’t recognize you.” I wasn’t surprised by her look of shock and disbelief.
A lot has changed since we last saw each other.
More than she could, but would before the night was over, believe was possible.
The most obvious, but not the least or even more significant, change was the way I look.
See, I wasn’t in the best of shape back in the day.
I was at least 50lbs overweight.
I also had bad eyesight, 30% hearing deficiency, lactose intolerance, vitamin C deficiency, reduced mental faculties, and along with a host of other physical impairments I had a bum knee I could barely move.
But, a year later, after Zo quit the store, something happened that changed everything for me…

I had just gotten off work and was walking to the bus stop.
Just my luck it was storming like crazy, thunder and lightning flashing and crashing worse than I had ever experienced.
And, of course, I had no umbrella.
Walking across Holcomb bridge in a thin ass jacket, wallowing in my misery, I was reading a book on Kindle and listening to music when all of a sudden the world got insanely bright.
I later found out that it was so bright some people were temporarily blinded.
I probably would have been as well but for what happened not even a millisecond next.
Normally, at this point, most would say that they don’t remember what happened next.
But not me. No, I remember every single second of the event.
A massive bolt of lightning so powerful that it tore through the side of the bridge and left a, what people would later call a suspiciously looking man-like, crater in the ground under.
What everyone couldn’t see was that I was struck by the lightning bolt.
The first thing I felt upon being struck was immense pressure, as though every cell and bio-chemical process in my body was gut-punched.
So clearly was I thinking that I knew that my body had been obliterated as well as anything within 3 meters of me.
My clothes, my glasses, my Bluetooth headset, my backpack and it’s contents, including my laptop, my portable chargers, my wallet, and my cell phone, which was in my hand at the time.
I didn’t feel any pain, but in that instance I felt my consciousness expand and heighten.
I understood that though my body was destroyed it was not gone merely dispersed.
I knew that the first Law of thermodynamics, in part, applied to what we view as physical destruction.
The cells that make up my body still exist. Though my cells should have begun to decay at an accelerated rate due to the premature dispersal process, not only were they stable, they were also improved.
With my enhanced awareness I can perceive far more than my previous bodily senses.
For instance, I can tell that my conscience, or spirit, was still connected to every single cell of my body.
That’s true from the moment of inception, but now I was truly aware of it.
Now, logic dictates that, despite being aware of my situation, the ‘destruction’ of my body should have separated my spirit from my cells.
But that wasn’t the case, and I suspect that the lightning was the reason why.