It has been a month since I last updated...I know. I thought I would hop on and write an entry about how exciting yesterday was...for all of you who were in Lawrence when it happened, you know what I am talking about.
My alarm had gone off at eight and then again three minutes later. It was after this last time that I realized it was raining outside. Blearily, I rose from my futon, went to the window and worked the window shut, not taking much notice of the weather outside. I knew it was going to storm, but I hadn't heard the weatherman call for any severe weather. I crawled back into bed next to Patrick and snuggled up next to him. Storms and boys seem to go hand in hand and I know I am not the first and only girl to admit how much fun storms are especially with a guy. As I lay there listening to the thunder roar over and over, my muscles remained tense. Let me explain why. Sociologists believe we are born into the world unfinished. In other words, we arrive with no instincts and society finishes off what nature did not. I don't buy all of it. Somewhere, deep inside, I believe we have some sense of instinct. We just rarely listen to it and when we do, it is usually in extreme situations. The thunder was unnerving. I instinctually felt like something was wrong. The roar was too repetitive and there was hardly any rain. It felt like a freak storm, not like a normal thunder storm. Then the wind started. I hate wind. I got up and Patrick sat up, concerned. "Do you want me to get up?" he asked. Standing there, I listened to the roar of the wind and hated it. It grew louder and louder. All I could think of was that a tornado sounds like a train. It sounded like a train, but my mind couldn't get around the fact that there were no sirens. They would have known in advanced, right? The wind was deafening and now even Patrick was concerned. Suddenly, the house started quaking and debris hit against my window. Patrick jumped up and told me to grab a pair of shoes. "Why?" "There's going to be broken glass," he replied. I slid quickly into my sandals while grabbing my quilt. We ran out of the room. Jess Fergan was running down the hall, knocking on all the doors to make sure everyone was out of their rooms. I ran to the sleeping porch, threw open the doors, but everyone was already out. We ran down two more flights of stairs to the basement just in time to hear the sirens. I stood downstairs and numbly unfolded my blanket and wrapped it around me. I was shaking and I hated it. Caryn was standing next to me and opened one of the kitchen doors. "Shut it," I told her. "I just want to see it," she excitedly replied, but then shut the door when I shot her an angry glance. We stood downstairs for a while. The sirens finally shut off. A couple people went upstairs and came down a few minutes later. "Anyone own a Mazda 626?" Patrick made his way forward. "Yes" "There's a tree on it."
We finally made our way outside. Tree limbs, debris, and broken glass littered the yard and parking lot. In the Blake parking lot stood most of Patrick's car, only now a lot shorter and more compact than it had once been. I have to say, he handled it well. "Oh, shit" was all he said. There was a thirty foot tall pine tree laying on it. I would have freaked. The car, well, it was done. We both knew there was no saving it. Completely totaled. "I received the title to my car just yesterday," he said. I felt awful, but then Michaela started laughing. I did too. The situation was somehow humorous. If Patrick had actually been really upset, I would like to think we wouldn't have laughed. If you check out the Kansan, you can see pictures of his car. It made the front page. We joked that he was famous. All day long people snapped pictures of his car. One guy walked up to Patrick and handed him a dollar bill. "Here man, it’s all I have, but you need it way more than I do." We all laughed. A news station interviewed him. Later I was interviewed by another one. Patrick's dad eventually drove down and got him. He looked stunned. "I just finished paying this damn car off. Thank goodness you weren't in it." I thought that was true. If either of us had been in it, we would have died. With that sobering thought, Patrick returned home and I returned to the house. We were all nervous the rest of the day. Thankfully, all the foul weather that was supposed to hit us never did. It was just the weather they weren't expecting that did the most damage. So, besides a totaled car and a day off school because of tornado damage, there isn't much else going on except midterms. I think it would have to take more than a tornado to actually stop those from happening...unfortunately. Alas, this is my plight from now until Friday. Study, study, and when that's done, study some more.
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