Picture it: yesterday morning, 4 a.m. CRAAAAAACK-BOOOOOOOM! I bolt awake, and Pico barks. I smile. Sounds like thunder, I think, and close my eyes again. Then I remember where I am, and my eyes fly open again, as I strain to listen. If it's thunder, I think, there will be another rumble. Right?

Fifteen minutes pass, and nothing. I think I see a flash behind my closed blinds, but can't be sure. There's no rain, and in the 2 years and 3 1/2 months I've lived in Silicon Valley, I'd never heard thunder. Next thoughts: Did something happen at the airport? Or over at the NASA center?

Around 4:40 a.m., I hear it again. And this time, I definitely see lightning. Welcome to the first thunderstorm I've seen since moving to California. Yes, seriously. It was different from Ottawa and Thunder Bay thunderstorms, though, in that it did not include a torrential downpour, or at least not where I was. Still, it felt like a special present from nature, just for me. I've been wishing I could watch and hear a thunderstorm for months and months now, because although I don't miss anything to do with winter, or anything to do with the unstable weather systems and tornado watches that are summer in Ontario, I've really missed thunderstorms. It was a very happy early morning.

Moral of the story: when you wish long and hard enough, anything really is possible... ;)