Random Wednesday: Why Tornadoes and I Don't Get Along

I mean, yeah, no one's a big fan of tornadoes. I don't see anyone cheering when they have to take shelter in the basement.

In the interest of full disclosure, Spring is my favorite season. I love the colors and the smells and the warmth (but not too warm of warmth...just enough so I don't have to wear my wool coat anymore). I love the flowers and the garden-planting and the sounds of lawn mowers cranking up again. It's a great time of year.

Minus it being the start of storm season.

I've always been anxious around storms. The thunder and lightening make me unrealistically nervous. I don't find the pounding rain soothing. It kind of gets on my nerves when I have to keep unplugging my computer to save it from power surges, and power outages are not my definition of a jolly good time.

But the worst part...the absolute worst part is the tornadoes.

In a way, it's ironic. I have a rather irrational fear of tornadoes, considering I've never actually ended up in one. But my favorite movie is Wizard of Oz and I was addicted to the show Storm Chasers for a few years.

Yeah, I'm a little backwards.

The very idea of tornadoes (outside of my movies or TV) makes me nervous. It could be on the other side of the city, and I still won't sleep well. It doesn't help that a tornado siren is located somewhere near my house, so when my county goes on warning, my ears get blasted away. I always get a little jittery whenever I have to go take shelter. And I've gotten into this unnerving habit of immediately taking stuff with me to "save," just in case--my laptop, my first teddy bear (Bunky), my sorority pin.

Fortunately, I've figured out ways to relieve the anxiety. In the case of taking shelter, I always take a book with me to read. If I'm reading, I don't let myself think about what's going on around me. And if we don't have to take shelter, I blast my music.

So what inspired this week's random post? It could possibly be the 2am wake-up call I had this morning when the tornado sirens blared because of the tornado hovering over the other side of the city. It made for a rather tired Erin the rest of the day.