Disaster Preparedness by Samantha Wills

M'kay. I'm all about safety. John wakes me up this morning to a crash of deafening thunder with the word TORNADO. I was calm. Cool. Collected. In order to save us all, I got out of bed to close the bedroom door to the porch. Yup. That'll save us. Apparently in my fog, my brain thought the door might keep the tornado on the other side of it. Durh. So, I grabbed the baby out of her crib (probably fast enough to give her whiplash...OoPs) and proceeded to the Butler's Pantry where I sat with her as we herded what pets we could into the space (all the dogs, none of the cats...you know that saying 'it's like herding cats?' As it turns out, that's hard!) You might be asking yourself, "Sam, where were you bright enough to sit in the butler's pantry?" Up against the stackable washer and dryer. Brilliant. The only thing that holds the dryer on top of the washer is a few brackets with some screws. Friggin' brilliant. 

Then, John deems it safe to run back into the bedroom to get the computer to see the weather advisories. No tornado warning. No tornado watch. Not even a severe thunderstorm warning (though it is thundering and raining something fierce...). We've been had! For nothing happening, that was some FREAKY thunder. 

For a few years during my childhood I lived in Omaha, Nebraska and I can remember my Dad rounding us up and getting us into the basement virtually whenever there was thunder thinking it was a tornado coming (this in turn caused me to be afraid of thunderstorms well into my 20's and then suddenly, around 26 or so, I started to find them soothing...I think this incident may cause a backward slide...) I remember the freaky thunder...I just don't remember what it sounded like! Was our freaky thunder, tornado freaky thunder? I don't know, but for just a few moments I was 6 again and flipping out in the basement....

Next time, I will be more prepared. I will perhaps grab my glasses instead of getting up to close the door.

It's 6am now. We've been up for over an hour and are now headed back to bed. If there was a tornado the NOAA and Weather Channel aren't aware of it. No watches. No warnings. Just panic here at 1211 Washington. (Seriously, aren't there sirens? I vividly remember sirens as a child....or is that just a Midwest thing?) 

The one thing I do so love about hurricanes...unlike tornados, they give you warning.

G'night. Again.