Tornadoes and Weddings

The scenes of devastation in Alabama and Mississippi are heart wrenching. We've had a fair number of twisters in Kentucky, too, this month, though not of the fatal variety. I heard on the news today that there have been around 600 tornadoes reported this month in the US. Normally there are about 150 in April.

This barrage of tornadic activity takes me back to my childhood. In 1974, there was a similar event in early April. Deadly storms in Kentucky and Ohio and all through the South. It remains a vivid memory for me. I was one day shy of my tenth birthday. I remember my father and brother and I sitting in a dark house with no power, lightning flashing incessantly, listening to a crackling AM transistor radio. The reports were continuous, the newest scarier than the last. Tornadoes were touching down all around us.

My mother had it worse. She was flying out that evening on a business trip. Her flight was canceled, but she was stuck with many others in our tiny airport terminal. There was no power there either, and everyone spent the night hunkered down against the walls. More than once, they heard the distinctive train-like roar of a twister that night. We didn't have any contact with her that night, cell phones being a bit of science fiction at the time. Dad never let on, but he must've been worried sick.

With daylight, the damage was evident. I remember that a small community called Jett was hit especially hard about 20 west of Lexington. The town was literally wiped from the map. It was never rebuilt, just gone. Tornadoes were a major source of fear for me long after that, joined by great white sharks the next year (thank you, Steven Spielberg). I've always loved a thunderstorm, just sitting at a window and watching the lightning, but talk of tornadoes was another matter. That fear is largely gone now, maybe due to the doppler radar immediacy and accuracy. I feel that a twister isn't going to sneak up on me now.

It looks like the Royal Wedding coverage has started while I've been writing. I confess to not really caring, though I could look at Kate Middleton all day long. I suppose I do want to see her in her bridal outfit, though a bridle outfit would be more exciting. I think those pics will stay a state secret. I am sure that many of my friends will be watching. I just fear that envy will hit me in a big way. Not the bride necessarily, but all the comely women in attendance, dressed to the nines. Guess I should go find a TV. Television, I mean.