Community Chat

[LilacTree]

In bed for the night, watching The Bachelorette cry. Suddenly a red alert appears at the bottom of my TV screen and my cell phone is also sending me a red alert!! What's happening? They both tell me to go to the lowest part of my house (an apartment building) because a tornado is coming NOW!!! I look out of the window . . . it's bad out there!!

I get up, put jeans on and a sweatshirt, hair frizzed out all over the place, cannot find my shoes, grab my walker and my keys (forget my cell phone) and leave my apartment. No one is in the hallways. The place is as quiet as a graveyard. Did I imagine this? I turn to go back into my apartment, then I rethink, I do not want to have gone through all I have gone through to die in a tornado.

I gingerly take the elevator downstairs (I cannot use the stairs), hoping it doesn't stall in the middle of the 30 second ride. Get downstairs, no one in sight. My legs are failing me . . . where do I go, the lobby? I figure I might as well get my mail. Suddenly two women appear, all made up as though they are going out for cocktails. They decide the ladies bathroom on the first floor is the best place for us to hide. I try to grab a chair from the laundry room and cannot . . . it's too heavy. They help me and I can finally sit.

So the three of us go into the ladies room and they start asking me how I feel. I tell them I'm fine and I don't want to talk about it because it's too boring. Then we start talking about all the people who have died around here lately. (We haven't included us yet.) They keep looking me up and down. Yes, I know I'm a wreck, just didn't have time to do my hair and makeup, gals. They both have that short spikey cut that one never has to "do."

Then they start talking to each other while my mail keeps falling on the floor and they keep picking it up for me. "Why don't you put a little bag on your walker?" one of them asks. I say, "I usually do, but well, I just didn't have a chance to grab a bag tonight."

After about 20 minutes one of them decides to look outside for the tornado. She comes back and says it's quieter out there. So we depart the bathroom and by this time my palpitations are in high gear and I'm wondering if I'm going to make it back to my bed. I'm trying really hard to act normal. We get back on the elevator while they are asking me about my daughters and I am answering them ("back to bed, back to bed" is all I can think of).

We say our goodbyes in front of my apartment door and I finally get into the safest of all places, my bed. All I can do is lie there and wait for my heart to stop galloping. The Bachelorette is still crying and I'm wondering what happened in my absence. She is giving Chris the heave-ho. During the show, our local station breaks into the scene and shows a photo of a "funnel cloud" right over my one daughter's town, and it wasn't small. I guess that's where the "tornado" went. So I text her and tell her there was a "funnel cloud" in her town, and she texts me back, "A funnel cloud? ha ha." I text her back, somewhat ticked, and say "look it up on your thingy!" I didn't hear back from her.

Can't sleep. Bachelorette is long over. Somehow I snooze through the news, so I have no idea what just happened. Turn TV off. Wake up and can't sleep again. Turn TV back on and Carolyn and the world greatest designer guy is selling D&C, so I turn off the sound. Then the new tall skinny guy comes on with exercise equipment. I turn the TV off again.

Somehow I got through the night.

[terrier3]

Climate change!

[Preds]

Ford ... how awful for you. Glad you are okay and that the "girls" were there just in case. Have you talked to your daughter this morning? Is everything okay in her area? With this nutty weather, you might want to hang a permanant bag on your walker so that you can load it down when you need to and keep everything close by. Including your phone charger and meds.

[circles]

wow.....what an adventure you had....glad you are safe.....

tornadoes scare the heck out of me...even just the possibility of one I go into a panic....

[PinkyPetunia]

Sorry you had such a stressful night. I'd be willing to bet many people just stayed in their apartments and didn't evacuate. I'm in north NJ (western Essex county) and we had lots of rain for about 2 hours.

At around 7pm it got pitch dark and I got out the flashlights and lit some candles (always anticipate a power outage since hurricane Sandy) but we were ok. My husband laughs at my preparations (nothing seems to scare him) and the dog thought it was bedtime and went to her bed.

Ford, brace yourself since a similar forecast is for tonight as well. Hopefully it won't be too bad. Hang in there.

[LilacTree]

On 7/15/2014 Preds said:

Ford ... how awful for you. Glad you are okay and that the "girls" were there just in case. Have you talked to your daughter this morning? Is everything okay in her area? With this nutty weather, you might want to hang a permanant bag on your walker so that you can load it down when you need to and keep everything close by. Including your phone charger and meds.

Yes, you are correct. We are supposed to have the same weather pattern today, so I will get more "prepared." I can't figure out why there were only three of us who took cover. I guess everyone else was asleep.

Also, there were no sirens. One would think they'd sound a siren if a tornado was in town.

We are just not used to this.

[Pqfan]

Ford I am glad you are okay!

This must have been so scary for you.

Can you get the kind of walker that has a seat?

That is the best kind so at least you would have a seat if you have to sit down.

Hugs (((Ford)))

[LilacTree]

On 7/15/2014 Pqfan said:

Ford I am glad you are okay!

This must have been so scary for you.

Can you get the kind of walker that has a seat?

That is the best kind so at least you would have a seat if you have to sit down.

Hugs (((Ford)))

I guess I should get the one with the seat. I didn't think I was going to need one for this long so I am still using the one the hospital gave me last year. (Just realizing that was almost a year ago, August 5, 2013.)

One of the ladies here has one and it has a really nice seat. Maybe.

[ivey]

This must have been very scary for you. Does your building have a contingency plan if you couldn't take the elevator? Maybe this tornado will prompt them to write one.

I grew up in ""tornado alley."" I remember my daddy throwing my grandmother over his shoulder and heading down the stairs of our storm cellar.

[LilacTree]

Thank you everyone.

I tried to make the story funny, but I guess my fear showed through.