Monday, April 4, 2011

Ah, it must be spring.

Severe weather was predicted for Memphis today for around 8:00 this morning.  It was severe weather that not only did not come through at 8:00 this morning, but weather that looked like it could fall apart completely by the time it did get here.

About 10:45 I went to the grocery store.  It was sprinkling when I got there but whatevs; I stocked up, piled in my car, drove toward my apartment (which is due west of the store) and noticed that the sky was a particularly menacing color in the direction I was headed.

By 11:45, I was back home, all the groceries were in, and it had really started to rain.  I walked out on my back porch to watch the storm come in but after two or three minutes, I decided it was probably in my best interest to stay indoors.

As I walked back inside, I heard my phone ding, telling me I had a voicemail message.  It was none other than the emergency weather service I subscribe to urgently informing me, "There is a tornado warning in your area NOW.  Take cover!"  And then the phone went dead.

I went into the bedroom to get some shoes and BAM, there was a horrible crash and a tree slammed against my window and the power went out, all at the same time.

Dear God, I have never run so fast to my downstairs laundry room in all my life, and fuck the shoes.  I still had my phone, so I called my parents to ask what the radar looked like but then their power went out and I thought, 'Aw, hell, this is it!'  You'd think that after living here my whole life I'd have caught on by now that it's always when you think the weather isn't going to be bad that it's actually terrible.   

But then luckily nothing else really bad happened; I was just scared for a few minutes until the wind died down and I was even lucky enough to get my power back soon after (my parents are still in the dark).

About once a year, I get a full dose of adrenaline from a storm, just a nice little reminder of my insignificance in the world.  The worst in recent memory was in 2008, while my parents were out of the country and my brother (who was then living mere blocks from me) and I stayed on the phone with each other while we rode it out because...well, because we both had our IDs in our back pockets and you only put your ID in your back pocket if there's some serious shit going down.

It was just after Heath died...

I still dimly associate grieving for Heath with being scared for my life.  And what do you know, today is his birthday.  He would have been 32.

 What hit my window. 

11 comments:

  1. It scared the living daylights out of me!!! If the tree had been just a couple of feet taller, my bedroom would have been gone as well as my car. Thank my lucky stars...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my darling! Thank God your okay! Take care darling! X

    NRM

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG, PG, how fucking scary! I'm so glad you're safe. I'm sorry I didn't see this post until just now. I have had some major fucked up work for the past 2 days & hadn't been checking the blogs. I can relate from going through major hurricanes here in Houston, & a tornado hit my apt. building & ripped off part of the roof (mine was downstairs) way back when. Scared the life out of me, & we don't have basements in Houston, so if one hits with no warning, I'm pretty much done for. I heard on the news a little while ago, that tornadoes & severe storms ripped through several states last night & today heading East, I wasn't sure if any hit Memphis or not.

    Thanks for the HL mention, I had forgotten it was his birthday yesterday. RIP Heath.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And then, after all that, I *did* actually wind up dealing with a power outage, but not until this morning! I don't know if something got messed up while fixing other people's electricity or what (thousands are still without power around here) but at about 2:00 this morning, there was a boom and when I woke up 5 hours later I was cold and still in the dark.

    (LUCKILY, it is back now.)

    Jesus, what a scary situation, Vanessa!!! I can only imagine. I'm serious about feeling like I've been put back in my place by the weather periodically...it's as if Mother Nature likes to remind us now and again that she's still in charge...

    ReplyDelete
  5. so the tree hit your window, but it didn't break the window??? That's f'n amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. ^^^ AGREED! Really, it just sort of brushed my window because it was wasn't *quite* tall enough. It also wasn't *quite* tall enough to hit my car, but it was so close that when I walked outside, my car was covered in leaves and there were branches all around it (!). It could have been so much worse!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I repeat what I said in the line of the 'Twister' ride at universal. Why live there?!

    No honestly I'm really glad ur ok and it sucks u had to go trough that, any big time damage to your house or landlords?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ha!! I thought about you saying that, Sam. :) Although you have floods and other places have earthquakes and tsunamis and strange thought it may be to say, I actually prefer this!!

    No major damage to any buildings, no, thank goodness. There were a few houses in the city that were crushed by trees, but overall the damage could have been a lot worse. More rain in the forecast, though...it's definitely that time of year!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank God you're OK! I would've been scared shitless!!

    It's been freakishly windy here today, and yesterday. Like, can't barely walk windy. I'm just glad nothing came flying by hitting me in the head while walking home (or rather, trying to) after work...

    And yeah. Sweet Heath. :( I thought about him on his birthday. Still can't believe he never even got to turn 29..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jess, I had every intention of e-mailing you on Heath's birthday but then everything about my day got messed up because of the storm. :( An e-mail IS coming your way soon, though!!!

    The wind sounds scary! :-/ Today it's really hot here, but the wind is pretty fierce...not nearly as fierce as what you described, but pretty bad for a place that's not known for its wind. I ran a 5k this morning and the last stretch was right into it...it was not the funnest way to end a race... :P

    ReplyDelete