ok, so I am back in the states attempting to enjoy my summer vacation while watching the house and dogs while the parents were enjoying a vacation in Mexico.

There it was, one innocent night where I was in bed by midnight, sleeping the sleep of the well deserved. I am suddenly awoken by the sound of an alarm going off. I first thought it was a phone ringing but then soon realized that no, it was the sound of our weather radio (aka a piece of machinery that beeps whenever there are weather hazards like tornadoes, hurricanes, severe thunderstorms or flashfloods, etc).I run out to the kitchen and then begin to shake as I hear a mechanical voice telling me that my area was under a tornado watch.

Yeah, I have seen Twister. I know how that shit ended. So it was aboout 1:20, and I call my parents in Mexico, asking what I should do. They ask if they see my neighbours lights on (as they have a storm shelter), but no activity across the street. The tornado watch was to last until 7am and I thought it ridiculous that I was supposed to attempt to sleep. With all the lights in the house on and the dogs in my room, I manage to fall asleep until 3am, when the alarm goes off again.

Off again running, the alarm tells me that I am now under a severe thunderstorm watch and the tornado threat has been upgraded to a warning. Seriously freaking out now, I say to hell with it, and call my neighbours. Lucky me, the parents are up, and they tell me to come over. I get the dogs ready only to have them call back and say that I can't bring Shiraz (my retriever) b/c she made a mess on the rug during the last storm threat. So I lock Shiraz into the laundry room, cry a little, and then grab the yorkie and head across the street.

I sat on the couch for a while, watching the forecast (as our house does not get local news, i had no idea how big the storm was or how fast it was moving). Lucky us, it wasn't so big, and it would pass us by in half an hour. The satellite signal goes out, so me, my neighbours and their 4 kids, their 2 dogs, and my puppy get into the storm shelter. I try not to cry. They were all fine, as they had done it numerous times before but I was really freaking out. And I felt horrible that I had left my other dog home. We were only in the shelter for 20 mins or so, and then I stayed at their house until 6am watching the super doppler until i was sure that it had passed us over.

I leave at 6am, after 5 hours of panic, let a shaking Shiraz out of the laundry room and go to sleep.My neighbour is still making fun of me for being in a panic. Whatever, I challenge anybody that has never been in a tornado while home alone to not have a bad day!!

And that is yet another reason that the south just isn't my style....