On the Subject of Worrying

Thinking about people coming to read the blog and there being no posts if a tornado hit here, I was thinking about the night Joplin got hit by the tornado in 2011. I was teaching quilting a little over an hour southeast of Joplin the night of the tornado. Some of the ladies from the guild had taken me out to dinner and while we were eating, everyone in the restaurant was getting news of the tornado. There weren’t many details but it was obvious it was bad. The only thing I really remember was finding out that one of the hospitals had been hit and there were deaths. I was staying at a little cabin on a lake and I was the only person in any of the cabins. I hardly had any phone service. There was a tiny little TV in the living room and the writing at the bottom of the screen was too small and blurry to read. I was listening to the announcer saying where the tornado was heading but I had no idea what county I was in. The power went off so there went what little news I was getting. I managed to call Vince before the cell phone stopped working completely. He was able to get in touch with people who managed the cabins. They came and got me and we went to someone’s house they knew that had a basement. The homeowners were away but they had a key. We stayed there, in the dark, til about 2 a.m. . . me and strangers! When things calmed down, they took me back to the cabin. The power was still out. I knew Vince was probably very nervous not being able to get any news about what was happening with me. Yes, I was scared. I can’t even believe I stayed there by myself . . without a tornado.

I did go to sleep – you know not much interferes with my sleep. I think it was about 3:30 a.m. when my phone rang. What a welcome sound! It was my friend, Vicky, calling from CA to check on me. I’m not sure how much I told her but I did ask her to call Vince and let him know I was ok since I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make a call. After we hung up, I tried and still couldn’t but at least Vince knew I was fine. Can you imagine getting a phone call from a stranger at 3:30 a.m. to tell you that your wife is ok?

Y’all may remember when Addie was in kindergarten . . so that was four years ago when Vince and I drove from Texas to Louisiana, spent the night with my uncle, brought him to Missouri to see Addie’s kindergarten performance. We got there a couple of days early so we could visit. The weather was bad the afternoon the play was to be held but we were going. We were all dressed, tornado sirens went off, the school communication system called Nicole and Chad – play postponed til the NEXT Friday. No . . we couldn’t/wouldn’t stay for a week so the next morning, we left, drove my uncle back to Louisiana, spent the night, drove back to Texas. I stayed home about three days, then I drove back to Missouri by myself so I wouldn’t miss Addie’s 30 second part in the kindergarten play. Grandmothers do crazy things! 🙂