Sue Marie St. Lee

The forecasters have warned us, dating back to last week, about impending bad weather. It’s been cloudy and damp. Today, however, the cloudy skies are definitely threatening severe conditions, and I did not take my own advice yesterday in prepping our “evacuation” bag, there just wasn’t enough time.

While writing this post, I am backing up my files to a 1TB flash drive. When that is finished, I will stock our safe room with the laptop, external drive, purse, whistle, water jugs, blanket, and cell phone. I absolutely HATE this time of year, almost as bad as when the fire season comes. Yes, the fire season is even more frightening!

We were actually evacuated from our neighborhood some years ago due to surrounding fires. I was terrified!

The police car drove through our neighborhood with his loudspeaker on, telling us we all needed to evacuate “NOW”! We and our neighbors walked out to our front lawns while packing our vehicles with essentials. The smoke had blackened the sky as though it were midnight without a moon, but it was only 5 o’clock in the afternoon. The air was suffocating.

Our neighbors knew where they were headed – families not too far away, yet out of harm’s way. We, my husband, cat, and dogs, have no family locally, so, we drove to my husband’s office where we stayed, trying to glean information from local news streaming on his computer. Unfortunately, the local newscasters signed off at 10:00 p.m. We had no idea from that point on if it was okay to return to our home. We took a chance, and it turned out fine, the barricade to our sub-division had been removed.

I made a pot of strong coffee, intending to stay awake and alert the rest of the night. How could anyone sleep after that? I knew that I couldn’t. It was a long, long night.

But, that was then, and this is now.

Actually, while typing this, the weatherman is reporting tornadoes on the ground, not nearby my home, but, writing this while backing up the flash drive is keeping me grounded.

Two hours later… files are still backing up. Yes! This does feel like being constipated! Uncomfortably “full” of anxiety, impatiently waiting for technology to hurry up and finish.  This is definitely a result of procrastination. Will I ever learn? Wonder if I need to put a roll of toilet paper in the safe room?

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. – William Shakespeare