Having a hard time knowing what to write about today, because I just keep thinking about Oklahoma.
I’ve always been fascinated with tornadoes, and it is a fascination mixed with a very healthy fear.
I have only seen one once.
I was in Indiana, visiting my college boyfriend.
He was at work and I was going to pick him up.
I was driving on a long stretch of road, and everyone suddenly began pulling over and getting out of their cars and pointing.
I looked left and saw a thin funnel cloud making its way across a field.
It wasn’t that far away, and you could see the debris it was kicking up.
However, the people along the road didn’t look too scared, and just as quickly as it had appeared, it went away.
I have always loved the movie Twister.
Not because it was critically acclaimed (it wasn’t) or anything like that.
But because I feel like tornadoes are Mother Nature at her worst.
At her most unpredictable.
At her cruelest.
There is some advanced warning, but not always, and it’s usually not enough.
It’s terrifying.
I went to college and student taught in Ohio, and we had tornado drills where everyone headed to the basement.
There were no tornadoes in the area in the four years I was out there, but I remember those drills and they still give me goosebumps.
I can’t even imagine the terror of hiding in a storm cellar.
Of hearing the sirens.
Of hearing the wind, the debris.
The cone of silence.
Of having to drive into town afterward and find your home, your every possession…gone.
Of not knowing whether or not your children were safe.
Of finding out they weren’t.
I know I can’t just pack up the kids and dig out a bunker and fill it with provisions and never let them out so that nothing every happens to them.
But on days like this, it is exactly what I want to do.
As an adult, I still have nightmares.
More often than I’d like to admit.
And when I do, they are always about tornadoes.
That I am somewhere that my children are not and we are hit by a tornado and I just can’t get to them.
My heart goes out to those in Moore, OK, and throughout the midwest, who were hit by these vicious storms.
I’m just so, so sorry for you all.
Like you, I’ve always had a fascination about tornadoes and when I have a nightmare (which is fairly rare), it’s also always about tornadoes. Except in mine , everyone is going about their daily business and I can see the tornado in the distance,so I’m trying to get everyone to safety. In the end, I usually do, but my worst dreams end right before the tornado hits. My heart aches for all those who were affected by this disaster. It’s unimaginable.
Comment by Michelle King — May 21, 2013 @ 9:06 am |
Truly unimaginable. I’ve always wondered why I dream about tornadoes, and I think it’s because I’m such a control freak in every area of my life…a tornado is something that there is no way I could even begin to control. Nightmare.
Comment by Amy — May 21, 2013 @ 10:50 am |