These boots will come off when the tornado warning is officially lifted. 

Those are shiny pink leggings, not my skin.

On a lazy Sunday evening I was lying on my bed surfing the web when the wind picked up and I heard the tornado siren in town. I knew we were on tornado watch, but it hadn't gotten serious until now. I sprang out of bed as the weather channel app on my Iphone produced a terrifying noise. I ran to the bathroom sink and grabbed my hodge podge survival kit from the cabinet. I then threw necessities into the survial kit bag. The first thing I grabbed was my planner. "Really?" I thought, then quickly after "fuck it, I want it".

The supplies

Where the supplies are kept. (Best caramel corn ever). 

I yelled for the dogs to follow me. I needn't have bothered, they were right on my tail. I hollered for Justin to get downstairs. He was relaxing in the living room on the second floor. I ran around the house donning my boots, a sweater and a hat completely ignoring the actual temperature of 70 degrees. My brain was showing a slide show of post diaster people in terrible situations. There was nothing I could do to pause it.  I threw my laptop into a bag, found my kindle, and phone. I grabbed provisions which included three apples and a bucket of dog food.

"You know, you can't act like this in a real emergency"? Joseph had no appreciation for disaster preparation. "This is exactly how you act in an emergency, you're the one with a problem!" I thought as I circled the house gathering more supplies and demanding that everyone get in the basement. My mind was now on a slide of the Tsunami in the Philippines and then the Tsunami in Japan.

Supplies gathered and Joseph somewhat participating (he put his shoes on). I texted Mike from the basement. I needed to know if he was taking tornado precautions. This would be an additional indicator of high severity. Mike's behavior was the ultimate litmus test.

As I texted furiously from the basement stairs, Joseph called me to our bay window. "The wind's died down", he said. He wasn't lying. We went to the front porch and the air was decidedly stiller. Mike texted back that he was not in the basement. I told him the status of hysteria at our house, and that I now believed we would all survive.

Although the tornado warning had not alarmed Mike, I was able to do the job.

Like any good nurse, after my endorphins had settled, I assessed my performance. I think my food supplies could have been a bit better. Also, why didn't I have at least one gallon jug of water in the basement? I completely forget my glasses which are easily one of the most important things to grab given my blindness. I did give myself points for having an emergency kit and alarming all the humans around me. Now, I'm exhausted. 'Til next time..