(See what I did there?)
On Monday morning, I woke up to fabulous seventy degree weather. When Mother Nature decides to be cooperative and let it be seventy degrees in February, I don’t question it. I just chalk it up to global warming, put on a dress, and wonder how long it’ll last.
Well, it lasted until Tuesday, and that is when I learned that seventy degree weather in February does not come without consequence. My little sister in my sorority and I made plans to see a movie (27 Dresses – total chick flick, which is so not my taste in movies, but without the bridesmaid dresses, it was pretty much the story of my life) and go to dinner. When the movie was over, the tornado sirens were going off, but we thought it’d be okay to go two minutes up the road to Chili’s to grab dinner. As it turns out, Chili’s very wisely does not serve food during tornadic activity. They do, however, instruct you as to where the safest places in the restaurant are. About two minutes after our waiter brought us out something to drink, we got to find out just how safe the walk-in fridge is.
Yes, that’s right. I, along with about twenty other people, spent twenty minutes using a walk-in fridge as a storm shelter. Awesome.
When the storm passed, the manager told us there was a window of opportunity to leave and return to our homes (or go to another similarly safe area). My little and I hightailed it back to campus and were back for about fifteen minutes before the second wave of the storm hit. Fortunately, none of the damage that happened in Jackson happened near me. Everyone I know is safe; we are so lucky. So many people lost everything on Tuesday night, and the damage is devastating. Our cross-town rival, Union University, and the surrounding area is pretty horrible. And it’s just miles up the road from us … that’s the weirdest thing. I already know God exists, and I already know He loves me, but this cements it. The storm barely touched my school. There were students trapped in the dorms at Union, and no one died. That’s a miracle.
On a lighter note, tornadoes bring out my inner child. After the all clear was given after the second round of storms, I went back to my house, called my very concerned big brother, did some laundry, and checked my e-mail and the weather report for the rest of the night. My roommate came back to the house to get some stuff from her room and was like, “Hey, you should come to the apartments and hang out. It’s going to get bad again, so when it does, we’re all going to the Student Union together.” Never one to miss a party, I was like, “Hey, that’s a great idea!” and threw some stuff in a bag. Just imagine the part in Little Miss Sunshine when Olive finds out she’s going to the beauty pageant and runs to her room to pack. Yeah, that’s me. I also dressed myself like a four-year-old who had just been allowed to pick out an outfit on her own. All I’m saying is that it involved Soffe shorts and rain boots.
Anyway, that’s technically the worst thing that has happened this week. And when bad things happen at the beginning of the week, good things don’t happen for the rest of the week. It just sets the week up for crap, so that’s where I am right now: crap.
But thing are looking up. Slowly, but all forward motion counts.
