Weather

In Oklahoma, you know, when the tornado sirens go off, most people run outside and look up to see if they can see it coming. We tend to turn on the TV and check out the radar views to see if the storm is headed our way, and then we go on about our business if it is not. Tornadoes are funny that way: they can tear a neighborhood up by the roots three miles from you and leave your neighborhood unscathed.

Last night we had a herd of tornadoes come through the area. Funnels were dropping down like vacuum cleaner nozzles all over the state, and particularly around the OKC metro area. This is a picture I swiped off the Channel 9 websitte of a funnel west of Yukon. Most were south and/or east of where I am, so I didn't pay too much attention, but this morning I learned that the damage in east Norman was pretty severe. A former colleague of mine huddled in her laundry room while the storm ripped the roof off her house. An artist who has done beautiful work for the museum lost her house completely, along with both cars. My dad's boat... along with dozens of others and the marina in which they were moored ... were tossed into the middle of Lake Thunderbird in a tangled pile of boats, twisted steel and sheet metal. You can see some of the news footage of the wreckage here. I don't know when he'll be able to salvage it, or how salvageable it will be.

At our house, all was relatively peaceful. Grayson was anxious about the weather, and I set up pillows, flashlights, etc. in our "odd room" as a safe area, just in case. But while the rain and wind thrashed around the house, I calmly went about making dinner, watching TV with Grayson, futzing around. Once again, we were some of the lucky ones.

My heart goes out to all those who were NOT so lucky – who lost their homes, or sustained serious damage. But I'm always heartened by Oklahomans' attitudes toward these things. Over and over, when the victims are interviewed on TV you'll hear them say something like "well, it's okay. We're safe. That's the main thing."

And it is. We're safe.
That's the main thing.