Originally Posted by
keiththesnake
Roody:
I'm glad to hear you're not missing. When I first read the post about your disappearance, I figured you were just away from a computer. Then, I started to worry when others were checking in and commenting about your absence. Glad I checked tonight, and that everything's cool.
The weather sure has been great. I remember the tornado in June. I was teaching a class and I rode my bike home after the warning ended. I got on the radio and heard about a bunch of big trees uprooted in South Lansing and Holt. I'm on the west side, and riding home there were some big branches fallen and one wire on the pavement. I remembeer thinking about the awesome power of nature that afternoon as I rode down the empty roads that ordinarily have plenty of car traffic.
Anyway, glad you're okay. It is touching that people care when you're not checking in.
I was at work during the tornado and the other storms we had that week. My job involved helping psychiatric patients feel calm and safe while huddled in the hallway, even though I was feeling a little frazzled myself at the time. After one storm I had to work a double shift all night, and several times I caught myself worrying that I wouldn't have a home to return to in the morning. It's hard to keep your perspective when you're aware of disaster, but unable to check it for yourself.
I rode home after the tornado from the Westside to South Lansing, about midnight. The streetlights were out and there was a big tree lying across Washington Ave, right at the bottom of the hill. I was going pretty fast down the hill, and my little headlight didn't see the tree until I almost hit it. I skidded bad but I kept the bike up. I thought, if I had hurt myself, how funny it would sound to explain it to an ambulance crew: "That big old tree was lying right in the middle of the road and I didn't see it!"
We were all fortunate that it was a pretty minor tornado, although a couple people died. I personally was very lucky. There was a big tree down in my next door neighbor's yard, but no damage to my house and I never lost power long enough to even make my digital clock blink.