When people experience a freak accident or injury, they may develop an ability that they didn’t before, like knowing a new foreign language or becoming a piano virtuoso. But Stephanie Hildebrand’s story is a bit different: This incredible woman got struck by lightning and it made her suddenly positive that she had definitely turned her flatiron off that morning.
Wow! We’re simply amazed at Stephanie’s rare and covetable new ability!
“I was walking to work when I got caught in a torrential downpour,” she explained. “There was a ton of thunder, and I remember suddenly feeling a sharp pain on my back before everything went black. I woke up in the hospital, and that’s when they told me I’d been struck by lightning. That’s also when I realized that I was totally, 100% sure that I had turned off my flat iron that morning and could finally stop freaking out about it.”
“At first, I thought I was having a mental break,” added Stephanie. “But it was true: I had almost a photographic memory of powering down my straightener before leaving my house on that very day. I was shocked.”
“You hear about this happening to people after head injuries,” said Jeff Hildebrand, Stephanie’s brother. My wife worries all the time about whether or not she shut her flatiron off in the morning, but Stephanie just knows. It gives me chills.”
“I must spend the first three hours of every work day wondering if I remembered to turn my hair straightener off,” added Reba Gimlet, Stephanie’s longtime friend. “Like I fully convince myself that I haven’t and that my building is going to burn down at least once a month. I can’t believe Stephanie got so lucky.”
But Stephanie is remaining humble in the face of her near-death experience.
“It’s important for me to keep in mind that I didn’t earn this,” she said. “Some people work really hard and in order to actively remember that they turned their flatirons off. I just fell into it. I’m just counting my blessings.”
“Every morning my hair is perfectly straight, my dresser remains unscorched, and I know exactly why: because I definitely, for sure turned my straightener off,” she added.
No need to brag, Stephanie! You’re an inspiration!
