"In my 62 years, I've never seen weather like this" says a local hardware shop owner while I attempt to purchase a chipper. "Honey, you should just call Mike and get on his list. All chippers are rented out for the next few months by contractors trying to get everyone back to normal." Normal is what struck me - what this isn't normal? Torrential down poor, weekly lightning storms, an F1 in the wee hours of the morning, isn't that what is the mid-west normal? I guess not. I've heard the Ozark mountains and Beaver Lake have a special relationship with mother nature who blows the worst of her furry mostly above or below NWA. This is essentially why I was convinced to move here - the weather is said to be pretty similar to Santa Cruz, CA, mostly temperate on the hot and cold. I mean both towns are at 36 degrees latitude so totally believable right?
When my phone buzz's with "lightning strike nearby", I am a bit giddy. I've not seen weather in quite some time. However, the excitement quickly wore off last Sunday at 12:30 am when a nixel alert went off stating "Tornado Warning" please move to a safe interior room. The cynic in me vents "great, 3 months into this new house and there it goes...does homeowners insurance kick-in if there is nothing left?"
I got over myself enough to bolt into action. We grabbed flashlights, a radio which always sit next to the bed, put on shoes and went downstairs. My Dad (who was visiting for the weekend) and Jaina were already awake - "Mom! Is there really a tornado in the area? My friends are saying it always gets called off". Cohen was sound asleep through the loud wind and lightning. I didn't know whether to wake him, assuming I was over reacting a bit. Downstairs is mostly protected, south facing with the earth on one side, so I waited for that sturn look from Todd to move everyone to the "safe" room, a place with cement on two sides, no windows, and large enough to house us, the home utilities, and all the rations needed for two weeks.
We let Cohen sleep, my dad lounge in the recliner, and Jaina message her friends from the comfort of her bed, while we sat in the safe room searching for news that was hard to come by. We scanned the radio's, searched the web, watched social media. I was happy to see the most relevant details on Facebook Watch via a live broadcast from our local station. They had storm chasers in the field trying to make sense of the wind, rain, and general chaos in the dark, while watching the doppler radar show bright red clouds, with rectangles for the tornado risk areas.
If storms have personalities, this one would be a bright red Ferrari, clean and quick. It whipped through in 30 minutes flat. The all clear sounded from our phones, news outlets and downtown sirens (which we were too far to hear). We looked at each other, gave a knowing "whew" glance, and headed back to bed. Jaina bounced from her room, "see, I knew it, called off!" I'm not sure she quite understands that they are all called off eventually...
Now came the aftermath, which is always the hardest part, I'm told. We luckily didn't lose power or any trees. The next morning, I was able to take Cohen to school, on clear roads. I headed to a conference in Rogers, where the carnage became real. Beautiful oak trees lay defeated across so many roads; their roots naked, exposed for everyone to see. Map apps had no idea nor did conference visitors as long lines piled up along two lane roads. No one honked or got frustrated. Everyone was courteous and kind. With the news that an F1 touched ground, also came the sad realization that a Rogers man lost his life; a tree fell on his house while he slept. My condolences to his family. Given we have many beautiful trees in our backyard I tend to obsess about this a bit...
Now, one week later, I am sitting on my patio in 70 degree weather, watching the colorful leaves fall in a gentle breeze and feeling fortunate. I am humbled by the fact that we are visitors on this earth. We ultimately have no control over mighty mother nature, but can fully enjoy the beauty she produces all around us, we just need to slow down to see it.
The family is slowing a bit from our California days. My average weekly speed went from 70 mph to 35 mph by avoiding the highways and taking the back roads (I've only killed one squirrel so far - may you rest in peace little buddy). We spend our weekends looking for rocks (Jaina wants a metal detector for xmas!), playing soccer or basketball and occasionally eating out. We are all much more relaxed, not checking house camera's for transients, not driving in 3 hrs of traffic each day, but we do miss the sound of the ocean and our friends voices.
In the coming week, we will enjoy a neighborhood tractor trick-o-treat ride, that is if mother nature doesn't snow on our parade. She continues to dance around and keep us on our toes, giving bear hugs when we least expect, and I'm enjoying her playfulness for now.