I never really dealt with tornados until I moved here. Growing up I think we had watches but they never got close to where I lived. Then in 98 one blew through downtown two blocks from my office and that changed things, a lot.
For many years I couldn’t sleep if the weather turned bad. I would sit and stare at the tv trying to understand the radar. I lost count the number of times I locked myself and the cat in the bathroom waiting for the whole thing to be over.
Then magically one day I slept through a few storms and didn’t panic when I saw the warnings. I have friends that LOVE bad weather. They find the beauty in them, me? Let’s just say I am normally thinking the worst, praying with all my might that nothing bad will happen and I can go on with my day.
Yesterday my phone was blowing up with texts from weather.com with warnings of bad weather. My work email also had two new messages, one warning of thunderstorms with high winds and the last one that warned of tornados. Umm, really? We have to go there? Next thing I know, the sky is black, the rain is coming down sideways and the alarm goes off in our building. Time to hit the stairwell.
Luckily I have coworkers that like to chat and laugh to pass the time. We played with my phone, was requested to play music from the radio option on there and answer questions about a new software program that was being rolled out. The not knowing or hearing what is going on outside is a bit stressful but luckily enough people distracted me from the weather and my thoughts.
I can now get behind a good thunderstorm, the smell of the rain and how it cools things down in a hot southern town makes me smile. Of course not being flung to the other side of town helps too.
Stumbling Through Life 