Anxiety and Tornados

We awoke last Friday morning to the awful and frightening news of what had transpired north of us due to the tornados. On the weather radar there was a ugly red line of storms and they were headed our way.

Since the hurricanes literally blew through our home a couple of years ago, I have had a little problem with weather anxiety. Any strong storm will get my heart fluttering, the perspiration going and my hands all shaky. This has ebbed a lot as the months rolled by, but it came back with a vengeance Friday after Mr. Pop left for work.

The line of storms moved slowly toward us. Mentally I felt as though I was freaking out as I watched the coverage of the damage in central Florida. As the storms got closer and closer I got more and more afraid. It got to the point that I began to cry. Not a good sign.. I called Mr. Pop and asked him if he might come home for an hour or so until the scary stuff passed. He said sure and within a half hour he was here. Whew!

He did some work here at the computer and I started to relax. Just knowing he was here with me was better than the finest medicine for what was ailing me. The storm lines seemed to be dying out now as they came within miles of us. A little after noon I told him that I thought I could handle things if he wanted to go back to the lab. The weather didn’t look as ominous as it had earlier on the weather channel.

He packed up his stuff, kissed me, told me he loved me and out the door he went. He stopped before he got to his truck, turned around and told me to call him if I needed him. I thanked him and went inside and closed the door. I walked into the kitchen and heard on the TV that our county was under a “Tornado Warning”. I just stared at the TV for a second. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I called Mr. Pop on his cell and told him what I had heard. He asked me if I wanted him to turn around and come back home. I hesitated for a tiny second and said, “No, I’m gonna handle this.” As it turned out the storm cell that might have produced the tornado didn’t materialize into anything more than a heavy storm and it missed us completely.

I’m kind of proud of myself for not calling him back home. Maybe I can overcome this reasonable or unreasonable fear of storms after all.

Our attention now turns to people we know in the Daytona area. So far they all seem to be okay and that’s fantastic news. My heart absolutely breaks for those who weren’t so fortunate. Mother Nature showed us Friday that she isn’t particular when she wants to show her wrath.