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Up Yours OK Tornado Season!

It's 11:30 A.M. and I'm sitting in my living room watching it rain once again. It looks like it's 8pm outside. Once again, we are in for a day of severe thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes. I HATE this weather...HATE IT! I don't mind thunderstorms...in fact, I actually enjoy the soothing affect of thunder and soft, steady, rain but I DO NOT enjoy spending hours at a time glued to the TV, wondering when/if I've got to get me and the toddler in the bathtub or trek to the neighbor's storm cellar.


I've always been scared of storms. As a kid, growing up in central OK, we had a storm cellar, 10 steps from our back door, and I still would get so scared when the tornado sirens went off that I would stand in the hallway of our home and retch. Its still a topic of funny conversation when family gathers...remembering how ridiculous I acted when it there was inclement weather. Everyone LAUGHING at me! HAHA! While I've grown more accustomed to storms and how to handle them in a more mature way, I still get very nervous, especially now that I have a child.

I have family & friends who lost a lot, if not everything, in the historic F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, that demolished many areas in central OK . I was living in Nashville, TN at the time so I didn't experience it first hand. I returned to OK shortly after and could not believe my eyes. The area of town that was my stomping ground..so they say...looked war torn. I tried to drive to a friends house, who was blessed to still have their home, and had to pull over 3 times to call and ask her where I was because nothing was recognizable. This was a house I had been to many times and a neighborhood I knew well. There were no landmarks to guide me. If you've never experienced THAT...it's WEIRD!! Until you experience it, you have no idea how much you rely on the buildings around you to actually guide you.

In light of the recent devastation caused by floods in my home away from home, Nashville, and now the devastation the storms caused in OK on Monday night, I am humbled and grateful to have a great little house to live in and grateful I've not lost anything or anyone I know and love. I will weather the storms(no pun...) with caution and a fervent prayer that everyone is spared the wrath that can happen this time of year.

So brush up on your tornado safety plan. If you don't have one..make one and be safe!


btemplates

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