I work to the sound of sirens.
And thunder and lightning. The siren was a tornado/severe weather warning and it was pouring down rain as I put on my glasses and peered out the window. The dogs were already awake but I woke up Jim and we grabbed our phones and headed to the basement.
The dogs are not normally allowed in the basement and it was a challenge to convince them it was okay, even after we took down the gate. The cat, who normally spends a lot of time in the basement, needed to be bribed and then carried down – then shut in the bathroom down there for his own good.
We unfolded a couple of chairs, tried to settle the dogs, and opened up competing weather apps on our phones. Mine had static radar images, but also included lightning strike distances. Jim’s had animated radar on a loop, but was not as easy to read. Both agreed that the alert was supposed to end at 2 am, so we had about a half hour to wait it out.
Between storm tracking and settling the dogs, it occured to me how amazing it was that we could sit safely in our basement – tracking a storm with technology that would have seemed like science fiction when I was a kid. I doubt even Mr. Spock’s tricorder could have been so informative.
We sat quietly till the alert expired, checked the position of the storm on the maps, then crept back upstairs. I put away the flashlight and lantern I had brought with us – forgetting that the generator would have restored power if we’d lost it. Jim let the dogs out to use the bathroom because it seemed like the thing to do and then it was time to turn in – again – and try to get some sleep before the new day began.
It wasn’t that long ago that a tornado warning sent me to the basement alone – except for my cat – and how anxious I’d been. This was just something to be done and then it was over and everything was fine. Best case scenario instead of an imagined worst.