Splendiferous Zeppelin Escapades

Well, Jessica and I came closer to a tornado last night than ever before for either of us.   About 1:30am the tornado sirens went off and woke us up.   We had prepared, the night before, the tub in our innermost bathroom with blankets, clothes, weather radio, etc.   When the sirens went off, we ran in there with Lucy and turned on the radio.   The wind was SO loud!   The people on the radio were basically describing the circular cloud motion right over our area or at least approaching it (all the while those loud sirens wailing).   After about 20 minutes of this, the sirens finally went off, and the radio confirmed that the worst of the system was 1-2 miles to the east of us.

The power was still on, so we decided to go check the TV for the radar, but when we got into the living room Jessica got a bad feeling because the noise of the wind and rain had only increased (besides, the satellite dish was out ).   Lucy had started going to the bedroom, and Jessica called her back.   As she was coming back, she was basically doing an army crawl on her belly because she was really freaked out.   We ran back into the bathroom and not very long after we heard them report a tornado about a half-mile away from us in our subdivision.   Scary!!!   We put the blanket over top of us and made a tent of sorts with all our stuff packed in.   We probably waited in there for another 10-15 minutes listening to the radio until it was DEFINITELY out of the area.

Before going to bed, I noticed a bunch of search lights in our neighborhood, but they made their away around our house and then disappeared.   We figured everything was ok, so we went to bed, although it probably took us 30-45 minutes to go to sleep.

When we got up this morning, guess what?   All the TV stations were confirming that a tornado had caused significant damage to a few houses (one especially so) in our neighborhood.   They are probably a half-mile away.   Here’s the news report:

http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html

Check out the third through fifth paragraphs for the mention of the tornado and our neighborhood (Valencia).   Scary stuff!   We’re ok though, and our house is just fine (and all those around us).   I did think it very interesting that this storm really was
a pretty common thunderstorm in Oklahoma and that this kind of experience happens to lots of people every week here during storm season.   Yikes.

Adam is showing me this cool new toy. And I am testing it. I am actually writing this email through an instant message window. A little spooky I know, but it’s pretty cool.

I haven’t had many chances to feel as if I am offensive to the law, but I was recently put in such a position. We had to go to the bank recently to deposit some checks. Normally, we go through the drive-through or ATM, but we needed to meet some people inside. While waiting in line, I kept the checks in my coat pocket so as not to appear pretentious.

When my turn arrived, I reached my hand towards the checks (in the inner pocket next to my left breast). As I was making that motion, the teller, very subtly, lowered his hand from the level of the bottom of his ribs to his hips, just below the rim of his counter. As I pulled my hand out of my pocket unarmed and holding only checks, he, just as subtly brought his left hand back to its original position, away from what I can only presume was an alarm button that surely would have ruined my day.

It didn’t bother me too much in the moment, but in reflecting on the situation after we left, I felt deeply troubled that I had been viewed as someone capable of committing such a crime. I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. If nothing else, it left me having a greater resolve to give others the benefit of the doubt and see them in the nest light possible.