Palm Trees Burning in the Night

There was a sharp crack of thunder and I was instantly awake.  I grabbed Todd's arm & woke him up too.
"Whats wrong?"  He said, probably still asleep.
And lightning lit up the room.
And then came the rain.  I could hear it hitting the skylight and the windows and the roof.  It got louder and sounded less like rain and more like angry children hurtling gravel at our house.
And then it subsided.
Typical monsoon.  I rolled over and thought it was over.
But, unlike a typical monsoon, there was another crack of thunder.  And more lightening.  More rain.
It reminded me of the thunderstorms I watched as a child in West Virginia.  It was so odd to hear that here.
The thunder and lightning kept repeating.  Finally, I heard sirens.  I could hear them get louder as they approached from the fire station, then they passed & headed West.
My first thought was that someone's palm tree must be on fire.

The first monsoon I ever experienced (on the day after I moved here) was the first time I saw a palm tree that had been hit by lightning.  I was driving somewhere and I could not believe the amount of rain coming from the sky.  The streets had gone from dry to flooded in 5 minutes and I was praying I could make it back to my apartment without a raft.  I turned my head and looked down a side street and right there in someone's front yard a palm tree was on fire.  It was like a 25 foot tall tiki torch burning out of control.  The fronds were on fire and falling onto the lawn and I thought for sure the whole neighborhood would go up in flames.

Oddly, I have only seen that happen one other time.  But as I laid in bed with my husband and dog snoring, I thought for sure someone's palm tree had ignited.

When I went to work the next morning it was 92 degrees.  The streets were dry, and it was like nothing even happened.

PS- I'm the worst blogger ever and I need to finish the road trip stories!