Last night, I had my first experience with true “tornado weather.” Anne and I were watching the news (alerted to a tornado warning situation by Anne’s mother), and watching the storm outside.

It was quite eerie, really. For those who haven’t seen tornado conditions, the outside was incredibly still and the air was throbbing. Lightning flashed and thunder roared constantly, and some rain fell, but there was no wind - almost akin to being in the eye of a hurricane.

After a few minutes, and warnings from the TV to seek shelter, Anne and I grabbed the kids and headed to the basement. We lit some candles and had a flashlight. Claire looked at me and asked if we were going to play with her castle, to which I replied in the negative and told her to go to sleep, which she did, grabbing “kitty” and rolling over to snooze on the couch.

About an hour later, the worst was past, and we put the kids back in bed. Although it seemed very late at that point, it was only 10:40. Nonetheless, we were wiped out, and similarly went to bed.

-j.