The Storm

I have a good friend who survived Hurricane Alicia in the 1980’s.  I can never forget her story of taking cover with mattresses and waiting out the storm in her apartment, having missed the chance to get over the causeway and out of Galveston where she lived as a medical student.    She and a friend waited anxiously until the storm abated, and when it finally sounded safe to check the outside she opened her door on the 2^nd story only to discover there were no longer any stairs leading down to the ground.  The metal and stone stairway was simply gone.

Fortunately I’ve never gone through anything like that.  But last night I did my own anxious waiting as I watched the weather radar in my family’s hometown.  Seeing the curved red blotches and little lightning bolts on the screen right over that area, and hearing the reporter talk about that city was one thing; talking to my sister on her cell phone as she calmly stated she was in the hallway and the tornado sirens were sounding the alarm was quite another.  She assured me our mother was also taking cover in her house, not far from where my sister lives. And her daughter was ok at the moment too, although her new home was due east, directly in the path of the oncoming “storm with lots of circular motion”, as the newsman was saying.  My sister-in-law and brother texted me with updates, telling me the worst had passed over their house, north of the main storm activity, and repeating that mom was ok.  I exchanged calls with my daughter, living in another city also threatened by the storms and high winds. 

What a huge relief to know that all those I love and hold so dear made it through.  I have a new empathy for those in other parts of the world who have not been so fortunate, losing loved ones and homes to tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear or oil rig explosions, and tornadoes.   As a friend said just yesterday after rafting at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, it sure puts my troubles in perspective.