Last year, when I still lived in Virginia, I could go over to my in-laws' house during a tornado "watch." I would do so at the drop of a hat. I am not brave (or foolish) in the face of severe weather.
Last night, we experienced our first tornado warning in Nashville. There was no basement. There were no wise parents. There was a lot of fear and adrenaline.
2:50am I wake up to the sound of an eerie, high-pitched humming sound in the distance.
2:51am I tap Greg until he is awake.
2:55am After consulting weather.com, Greg decides that the noise is in fact a tornado siren.
2:56am Greg debates aloud about whether we should move to the bathroom or the hallway, while I grow impatient with his deliberation.
2:57am We move to the hallway and close all the doors in the house.
3:05am We put on our running shoes. I start imagining having to walk over broken glass.
3:10am More sirens. I am wishing I had gone to the bathroom.
3:15am Greg remembers some good advice and we put on our bicycle helmets.
3:25am After staring at each other's helmeted heads for 10 minutes, we remember that our bicycles are still outside. Much speculation about the condition of our bikes.
3:30am Several attempts to call the brother, who is known to have slept through earthquakes, to make sure that Belmont has taken precautions.
3:35am More sirens. I think about an account of the London air raids that I read in a memoir recently.
3:40am Loud gusts of wind. I would like to revisit the idea of moving to Tennessee.
3:41am Shameless finger-pointing at Greg for having to move to Tennessee.
3:50am All is ominously quiet. We consult the radar on weather.com and conclude that we are in the clear. We take off our helmets and shoes and start to get in bed.
3:55am The sirens resume. Helmets and shoes go back on.
4:05am Silence. Relief. Prayer.
4:10-5:00am Wait for adrenaline levels to lower so that we can fall asleep.
7:00am Get up for work.
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