Twisters

I am terrified of tornadoes. I have nightmares every once and a while about them chasing me. I blame my parents (of course) for moving me to Wichita, KS when I was 13. Wichita is smack dab in the middle of tornado alley. At my school we would practice tornado drills in class. And for what seemed like a few times a week, my sisters and I would flee to the basement for safety once the alarms sounded in our neighborhood. We would turn on the tv to watch the weather report and huddle under the ping pong table thinking it would protect us. Why we thought that would work I don't know. I remember one of the worst tornadoes hit on my birthday. My memory is horrible, but I seem to remember my dad calling from work telling us to get downstairs. About 30 minutes later I remember going upstairs to look out the window and saw debris flying all over the place. A tornado had hit about a mile or two north of us. I remember driving to my friend Kim's house and seeing all the damage. It was nuts. Well today Wisconsin is in a total state of panic because they are predicting tornadoes for our area. We have been under a tornado watch for the past two hours and it extends into the night. People are already cancelling school for tomorrow. The utility companies are on high alert, and the weather guy keeps interrupting regularly scheduled broadcasts to "remind us" we are on tornado watch. AS IF THE BORDER AROUND THE SCREEN THAT CLEARLY STATES WE ARE ON TORNADO WATCH ISN'T WARNING ENOUGH! Eric hopes we get a tornado. He thinks it would be fun. Fun for him is seeing me squirm. Hopefully, sleep will be the only thing I will lose tonight.