Were I a little more foreword thinking I would have written this entry while down in the basement with the pups yesterday waiting for the tornado sirens to stop. However, I was more concerned with the dogs having a bowl of water, my flashlight having working batteries and whether or not I had bars on my cell phone than hauling down my laptop to provide a blow by blow of sitting in a damp room trying to keep the dogs from finding the rat poison and ingesting it as a "light mid-morning snack". Good news is the radio gets great reception down there. Bad news is that if the electricity went out I'd have been SOL. Memo to self: buy batteries...
Kansas City proper doesn't usually get tornadoes in the area. Something about air flow over buildings and terrain that makes them head for more spread out regions. But in this year of crazy weather, we were in the path of a few twisters that luckily didn't touch down here, but came close. Closer than was comfortable for anyone. With my luck running as it is lately (Cushing's AND a new hip? Seriously?) I thought it bad form to ignore the tornado warnings no matter how much I wanted to continue to watch the local news weather staff plot the giant red blobs on radar as they closed in on the house. Any other time I would have figured I was safe. But these days what can happen has proven it will, so off to the basement we went.
The pups thought we were going for a ride in the car. After standing behind the toaster for a while, they realized that mommy wasn't coming to open the door and started wandering around. Eventually they just laid down and started snoozing. That was the point I knew we'd be fine. Dogs can tell if something bad is going to happen so if nap time comes, the crisis is over. So what to do to fill the time until the guy on the radio agrees with the dogs? I know, let's make some calls! "Hello mom? Just thought I'd call and say hi. Where am I? In the basement with the pups. Looks like we've got a tornado coming. So how is your day going?..."
Finally we went back upstairs after the storm passed overhead. The big red blobs continued to show up on radar, and tornadoes did touch down in several places way too close to us for comfort. Thankfully it was nothing like the devastation in Joplin or Oklahoma City, but when it's your home and belongings that have been destroyed, it sure feels like it.
Take aways from this experience? Maybe my luck is changing. And maybe I needed just one more reason to feel grateful for what I do have. And even if you don't hear the Wicked Witch of the West's theme song playing in the background, go to the basement anyway.
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