End of Letter Writing Month!/We Survive a Tornado

I completed Letter Writing Month -- but somehow I have more letters to write!  I have a tiny package to ship to a friend, a few postcards to send, and some replies to mail!

I received three letters in two days just before the end -- a postcard, a 4 page card, and a two-page letter, all from old friends I've recently re-connected with.

All in all, it was a fun experiment.  I sent two letters and two drawings to my Grandmother, a letter to my family, a package to my brother, and several notes to friends both old and new, and even some Thank You notes.  I think it's a good practice for me and I intend to keep Letter Writing Month in my agenda -- now to make my own envelopes and stationary!

In other news, a baby tornado (an F0 which is the smallest) touched down on campus at 5:30 this morning.  My husband said it woke him up and sounded just like a train barreling through.  He wasn't sure what the noise was and went out later to put a plastic bag around our busted van window (ah, old vehicles...gotta love 'em!).  It was dark out so he thought we'd just gone through a bad thunderstorm.   Our power was out for over 10 hours, and at noon he went out to see what was going on, as there were what sounded like a dozen people outside.  He took pictures of the damage and got confirmation that no one was hurt and that the buildings had not taken any hits.  Some poor trees has been uprooted and that was about it.

Hubby's near brush with mortality seemed to affect him greatly today -- he kept talking about it and marveling and it was weird because I didn't give it a second thought.

I've been through an enormous hurricane (Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii in the 90's), a blizzard (April '91 in Tennessee -- we had no central heat so we burned bookshelves and window inserts to keep ourselves from freezing), a flood (Tennessee, at some point, but it wasn't a bad one...our vehicle JUST made it over the roads until we got to high ground), and hailstorms.  The only thing I haven't lived through now is fire, and I hope never to experience that, because when I was little I'd always worry that we'd come home to a house afire.  (Another joy of living in Cosby, TN)

Surviving is just something my family has had to do, my whole life.  If it's not surviving physical trauma, it's an emotional or spiritual trauma.  We weather through it and thank the Lord when it's over and go back to business as usual.

But it made me sad that I didn't stop and thank God for keeping us safe, even though I worried plenty afterwards about what the storm COULD have done.

Sometimes I take too much for granted.  Hubby's a good reminder that we're here by grace.

The irony of today was the lack of technology -- people were outside, talking to each other (which, in this complex, is rare), the windows were open, we could hear the birds (which are usually barricaded by a wall of sound, I've noticed -- the fridge, the air conditioning, the fans), and the sun was the only light we had 'til around 4pm.  It was weird.  Almost apocalyptic (the aftermath, that is).

The sad irony is that I was ill and in desperate need of a heating pad and/or hot tea, none of which were possible.  Thankfully (Praise Jesus!) the water was working so we could use the restroom and have semi-hot water.  But without electricity to heat my rice pad or plug in my electric heating pad, I had to endure pain a little more than usual.

This is yet another reason I want alternative housing -- an underground burrow?  Safer from tornadoes than our 3rd story apartment.  Also, cooler in the summer, cheaper (medium-sized "house" footage for around $5,000) and cozier.

Maybe one day.